Tag Archives: dear emmett

Dear Emmett,

Posted on January 25 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

You are half a year old, Emmett and I simply can NOT believe this! That means you have been a part of our lives for 6 months, it seems impossible that, that much time has past since July 23.

We started the month with Christmas! Well actually technically, we started with a visit from your cousin. We went to Duff’s for lunch and you were such a good boy. You fell asleep in the car on the way there and slept for a while in the restaurant while we waited for you cousin and her family to get there. Once everyone arrived you woke up and were just so happy. You were passed from your dad, to me, to your grandma, to your aunt and you remained happy and smiley. You even got some good cuddles in with you grandma. You’ve come a long way from the baby that wouldn’t let mommy and daddy go out for dinner without melting down.

When we placed you and your cousin near each other, it was pretty much the most adorable thing ever. You or she would reach out your hand to one another and you’d either just lay them one on top of the other or you’d pull at her onesie or she’d pull at your binky. Seeing the two of you together filled my heart with love.

THEN came Christmas! And boy oh boy were you spoiled by your grandparents on both sides. You received a new high chair, toys, clothes and other very special odds and ends. Your aunts and uncles were also very good to you, you are one LUCKY boy!

You continue to roll over but there is a new element, since you’ve become so good at it, you will now roll from you back to your belly and stay there for a minute and then roll from belly to back, stay there and then roll over again. My little rolly polly olly! It’s really funny too, because we have a HUGE play area set up for you in the living room, with plenty of room for you to roll and roll and roll but yet you choose to roll the OTHER way and end up under the coffee table. You get SO mad when we pull you back onto your blankets and disturb your playtime but we want you to be safe and not put something into your mouth that you shouldn’t. You are just so darn cute and you make me smile.

You also encountered your first snow! You didn’t seem too impressed but I’d hate to break it to you kid, you better get used to it because your father and I don’t really have any plans on leaving the area so you’ll be in the snowy WNY area at least until you’re 18. 🙂

You also seem quite smitten with my singing. I certainly don’t have a fantastic voice or anything; you just seem to enjoy the sound of the flowing melody. Oftentimes, when you get fussy or impatient on the changing table I’ll start singing, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and you’ll quickly relax. It also seems to be your favorite song right now.

You started doing this at the end of you fifth month but for some reason you love grabbing your daddy’s face. My guess is that you like the feeling of the prickles from his beard because you don’t do this to me. You take your little hands and grab the skin around his jaw line and pull and tug, probably trying to put it into your mouth (because that’s what you do with E V E R Y T H I N G). It’s humorous and while I’m sure it doesn’t feel great, your daddy doesn’t seem to mind.

The above two pictures were not taken on Thanksgiving, you just had a blow out diaper and I didn’t feel like putting you in an outfit that you’d wear to day care.

You also had your first New Year’s Eve. It was very laid back for everyone, we stayed home and relaxed. Your dad and I did our own things, until just before the ball drop then we watched TV. We were curled up in bed cuddling and waiting for midnight to share a sweet kiss, when you decided that you wanted to join the party. Your dad and I did get our kiss but then I went into your room and fed you and of course gave you a couple kisses, you went right back down to sleep. You’re such a sweet boy!

Baby New Year!

You finally truly understand how your bouncer works!! You still aren’t long enough to reach the floor without a large book underneath you but you now know how to bounce and to reach for the toys on the tray in front of you. There are two leaves that hang off of the poles that hold the springs, one leaf has a monkey and the other holds a rhino. They have been dangling just out of your reach but the other day you grabbed one and held on tight. It was the cutest! You refused to let go for the longest time, finally you did. Click the link to see Emmett bouncing.

You are getting closer and closer to sitting up like a big boy! We’ve been sitting you up with the boppy around your waste and you stay up for a little while before you decide to slide down or fall sideways. It seems that when we hold a toy at your eye level you stay upright best. You also like sitting in daddies lap when you guys are on the floor. You use him almost like a boppy pillow. We do need to keep working on this skill because you have not quite mastered it yet, it will be happening soon, very very soon.

You’ve also started to babble. Let me repeat that because it is so very exciting, YOU’VE STARTED TO BABBLE! You started with ‘da da da,’ the first time you did it, your dad went “Hey! He’s talking!” We both kind of couldn’t believe it. The night that it started you made a babbling sound and then the sound stopped but your mouth kept moving. It was really silly! It looked like you were trying to get the hang of your vocal cords. Here we are a week later and you most definitely have gotten the hang of it. Now when you yell, you no longer screech, you yell your DA! DA! DA! very loudly until someone starts paying attention to you. Click the link for an adorable babbling Emmett.

You went through another one of your personality changes, at the start of the month you were a little cranky and needed constant attention, now you are so happy! You are constantly smiling at me, daddy or anyone else who strikes your fancy. It’s the best to see you so excited about everything!

Well Emmet, my adorable 6 month old baby. We’ve had a great month, I look forward to everything else you have in store for us.

I love you!

Filed Under: Emmett, Family

Dear Emmett,

Posted on December 31 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Your 5 months old now, this kind of shocks me and at the same time I realize how little time you’ve been on this earth. We’ve had a month full of ups and downs but I still love you till the ends of the earth and back.

The month started out with your 4 month visit to the doctors where you weighed in at 16.7 pounds and 24.75 inches long. You are one big baby! But you aren’t overly chubby, you’re just a healthy strong boy, in my opinion, you’re perfect! The doctor even said not to worry about your weight (you’re in the 77th percentile) that most breastfed babies will equal out with their formula fed counterparts eventually. Honestly, baby, I wasn’t worried but it’s good to hear that the doctor thinks you’re healthy.

Very early in the month you went through a mini personality change, you were very cranky and often were difficult to soothe. Your dad and I had to go back to eating dinner in shifts to keep you happy until bedtime. But then by the second week of the month you were back to your happy self (as long as you got your regular naps).

You took a big step this month in learning how to roll from back to tummy. This is the harder of the rolls for infants but you finally conquered it and I think surprised yourself as much as you surprised us. However, since you were born, we had swaddled you and now that you were flipping from back to tummy we had to switch you from the SwaddleMe to a Halo Sleep Sack. In the swaddler you had your arms close to your body and closed in tight but with a SleepSack you are essentially zipped into a fleece blanket with arm holes, leaving your arms free to wave and move around. This led to some serious sleep deprivation for your dad and I. You just did not want to sleep and we did try a few different things before making the full transition to the SleepSack but you’d go down and wake up several times a night.

This was probably the roughest time with you because we were all exhausted but we just couldn’t get you to stay asleep. This lasted for about a week and then you finally started to adjust but just as that was happening, I came down with the stomach virus. I really tried to keep it to myself, washing my hands a million times, basically not touching you or your father but unfortunately we just weren’t that lucky. I got sick late Monday night and into Tuesday, thankfully your dad was able to take a family sick day to take care of you so I could rest. I thought we were in the clear because I was feeling better by Wednesday and neither you nor your dad had come down with anything but on Thursday I woke you up to feed you before heading to work and day care and you just didn’t want to wake up completely. I fed you, got you dressed and took you into mommy and daddy’s bedroom so I could finish getting ready and you were just so out of it. When I picked you back up and was carrying you back to your room you threw up everywhere, all over yourself, the kitchen floor and me. Poor guy, I felt so bad for you, my darling.

We took you to the doctors to get checked out and she said you were fine and to get pedialite just in case we started noticing you getting dehydrated but by the evening you were feeling better, which was quite a relief. I hate seeing you sad or uncomfortable and you were both while you were sick.

Anyway, back to you rolling over. I was so so SO proud of you the first time you rolled over. It’s the cutest thing too, you kick your little legs over with enough momentum to get your shoulder underneath you and then you kind of flop over with your one arm still stuck under your belly. Eventually, with enough wiggling and worming you get that hand out and you can hold yourself up nice and high and look at everything and everyone above you. You actually tend to like being on your belly more now, than your back. But if you’re cranky, you still prefer your back.

Guess who you got to meet this month??? C’mon! Guess at least once!

…..

SANTA!! You met Santa! You were such a good boy too and deserved the present he gave to you. Your grampy belongs to a club in mommy’s hometown that brings Santa in to come and visit with the boys and girls and we were lucky enough to get a ticket to go. You got to sit on his lap and everything. I’m sure in future years you’ll look forward to telling him all about what you’d like for Christmas but this year you just sat there and kind of stared at him and his big long white beard.

On the day you got to meet Santa you also had a giant messy blowout. Grammy, Aunt Bridget and I all had to work to get you cleaned up, mainly because there wasn’t a changing table but also because it was oh so messy. Thankfully we got you cleaned up and all set to go out and meet Santa, the only problem was, your nice clean dress shirt had to be changed so you ended up wearing a long sleeved blue shirt under your Christmas vest. Oh well! You’ll always have a funny story to tell about your first visit with Santa.

You also made the jump from 3 month size clothes to 6 month. At the beginning of the month 6 month size clothing was pretty big on you but you’ve since filled everything out. The pants are still a little long but overall things fit you well. It’s fun to go through and organize your next set of outfits but hopefully you stick in the 6 month clothes for a little bit, we’re not quite ready for 9 months (yet).

Well, beautiful, amazing boy another month has passed and I am still over the moon in love with you. I look forward to each and every moment that I get with you and can’t wait for each new day to begin.

Love you always,

Mommy

Filed Under: Emmett, Family

Dear Emmett,

Posted on November 23 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

4 months!

4 whole months have past since we were in the hospital awaiting your arrival and you know what? I can’t imagine a minute of my life without you.

We’ve pretty much adjusted to you being in day care and me going to work. I still miss you during the day, especially when I look at your adorable pictures but I remind myself that going to work and feeling productive are healthy for me and down the road will teach you that you can have the best of everything.

In the beginning, I wasn’t a huge fan of your day care teacher but that’s changed. I’ve gotten to know her and understand her tone better and now when I drop you off in the mornings, I enjoy seeing her and chatting for a few moments before I dash out the door to get to work. You seem to really enjoy it there with her too! I don’t see you during the day but when I drop you off and pick you up you are always happy and rarely fussy. Plus your teachers write in your notebook that you are the happiest baby some days. This makes me ecstatic because I’d hate to hear that you’re unhappy the majority of the time, it would make working and being away from you that much harder.

Other than weekends, I think my favorite day of the week is Tuesday. Your Aunt Bridget watches you on that day and I love knowing you’re getting direct one on one attention. She sends me all sorts of pictures throughout the day and you can tell how well she cares for you. I know they do a good job at day care but you’re still one of four babies, with Aunt Bridget, you’re the only one.

Aunt Bridget and Emmett Reading

You rolled over from belly to back, for the first time this month! You had been working towards it for awhile, so we were anxious to see it. Your dad or I would lay you on your tummy and sit next to you, cheering you on, holding toys just out of your reach to encourage you to make that long awaited roll. Then one day, you were laying there and BOOM you were over. I’ll tell you a secret, I cried. I was so so proud of you, that I just couldn’t hold back the emotion. I realize that it might seem like the simplest thing but you worked really hard and I knew how proud you were of yourself too. I picked you up almost immediately and covered you in smooches and hugs. I’m sure you had no idea what was going on but who knows, maybe you did, and I wanted you to know that I was your biggest supporter!

You don’t roll from belly to back a lot. I think you realize that you don’t have a real purpose for this right now because you tend to be pretty content laying on your belly inching forward little by little. But the new big thing you’re working on is rolling from back to belly and man are you working even harder on this! Right now you get about half way over and then get stuck on your little shoulder. Believe it or not that cute little shoulder gets in the way more than you realize (in this case). I can’t wait to see you get all the way over, I’m sure I’ll be just as proud as I was when you went belly to back, don’t you worry!

You have become so incredibly vocal this month. You like to sit on my lap after nursing and chat. We have a pretty full conversation, neither of us know what the other is saying (yet) but we do talk back and forth. I like to envision the moment when you say your first real word and all this fun baby talk leads to its ultimate purpose.

Lately you also get so excited that you don’t bother talking, you screech or yell at the very top of your lungs. We’ll lay you down on your play mat or on your changing table and you’ll start gurgling and kicking your legs and then all of a sudden you’re beyond excited and screaming. It gets loud but it is so darn adorable and it makes me laugh. There have been a few times where you’ve screamed so loudly, that you made me laugh until I cried because it was just the silliest thing. I love seeing you so happy and excited!

Along the lines of you being noisy, when it’s time to eat you don’t really cry for it anymore (unless you’re RRRREALLY hungry) now you YELL! It’s like you’re demanding your breakfast/lunch/dinner be served to you immediately. It’s hilarious to witness but if I thought you were really trying to be bossy, we’d have a talk. 😉

We typically go grocery shopping on Wednesday nights and you aren’t always the most content guy while we do it. Not that I blame you, you’re sitting in your car seat for over an hour, I’m sure that’s not the most exciting. But one Wednesday night you were in a particularly silly mood and I was making silly noises and faces at you. After a couple of goofy faces and noises you gave your dad and I your first belly laugh. Baby laughs are awesome but your own son’s is a million times better. I made you laugh a couple more times and guess what? Yep, I cried again. What? I can’t help it!! I’m blown away by every little thing you do. You haven’t laughed like that since but maybe you have a tough sense of humor and we just haven’t figured out how to crack it yet.

Taking baths has become one of your favorite things to do. We set you in the bathtub and you’re perfectly content for entire time you’re in there. We used to get you in and out but now we get you in, wash your body and hair and then we play. You have two rubber duckies and you love reaching for either of them. Plus you like kicking your legs, I don’t think you understand that you’re splashing but you will eventually and then I’m in for it.

You’re still a pretty good sleeper. Most nights you go down between seven and eight and are asleep until five-thirty or six AM but there are some days when you still wake up in the middle of the night. I always get up to feed you and not once have I ever been upset about it, I love every moment I have with you, even if it means I lose some sleep. I can always catch up on sleep, you won’t always be a baby.

Your daddy and I bought you a new toy this month. It’s a Fisher-Price jumperoo/exer-saucer. You’re still getting use to it. What usually happens is when I put you in there for the first few minutes or so you kind of sit there and stare at the different items on it but then once you bump something accidentally and see that it moves or makes noise, you start going to town. Your legs don’t quite reach the floor on the lowest setting so we have a big book underneath and it’s so adorable seeing your little toes bopping around under there. Right now, you haven’t quite figured out how to make it bounce up in down but I can see that it’s coming, it won’t be long now!

Last but not least you had your very first Thanksgiving! We traveled out to your daddy’s parent’s house out in Central New York, it’s quite a drive for a little guy but you handled it pretty well. You slept most of the way out there and on the way home once you had me sitting in the back seat with you, you fell asleep.

You seem to be a sensitive baby, meaning that when you’re around a lot of people or loud noises you get overstimulated and get very upset, very quickly and that’s what happened at Thanksgiving. You got there and were in a pretty great mood but after being passed around and listening to all the loud shouting you got very sad and started to cry. We went into a quieter room and you settled down pretty quickly. For the remainder of the night, only mommy or daddy could hold you for the most part. Your grandma and grandpa got to hold you for a little bit but even that didn’t last long. But that’s perfectly alright, everyone got to look at you and meet you and as you get older, you’ll be able to interact with them more. I’m not going to push you to do something that you’re not completely comfortable doing.

You’ve had a big month little buddy!! We’re headed to your four month doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and I am very anxious to see what you weigh and how long you are because you seem ginormous for a fourth month old.

I can’t wait to see what this next month brings!

Love you always,

Mommy

Filed Under: Emmett