Wahoo!

I'm headed to North Carolina with my mom in October for a wedding!!!

Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love them

My beautiful doll faceMy talented dog
New dress from Target
Rolling over
Brother and Sister (please ignore the trashy tank top my son is wearing. Thanks for that one, Obeo!)

2 Month Appointment

Here are her stats from her 2 month appt.

13 pounds 7 ounces
23 inches long

She got her yummy tasting Rotovirus vaccine and 3 shots! She was not happy about the shots, but sure gulped down that other one!

We grow them big around here- Jack was 15 pounds and 25 inches at 2 months!

Brandon took the day off so we've been getting stuff done around the house... both kids are now sleeping. Maybe I'll take a nap too!

?

I'm pretty sure 2 months is a little bit young for rolling over from tummy to back. Well, she's done it 3 times today!

2 Months

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Baby Doll!

At 2 months:

* You eat 6 ounces when you get up in the morning and 4 ounces at a time during the day.
*You can hold your head up by yourself with only a little bit of wobbling
*You hate getting dressed
*You sleep through the night
*You love, love, love taking a bath
*You only take good naps during the day if you are in your swing
*You sleep in your crib at night with no problems!
*You love being "swaddled up"
*You give cute smiles when you want to
*You are always too busy looking around (or screaming if she's hungry/mad) to fall asleep in the car!
*You are getting used to people saying "What beautiful blue eyes! She's so alert for a baby her age!" when they meet you for the first time
*When you get really mad, you actually scream! What must the neighbors think??
*You don't mind being poked and kissed and leaned on and hugged and sometimes smooshed by your big brother
*You have gone from being a rather difficult little diva to a more predictable little princess
*You love your deedee (pacifier) when you are really tired, but don't always want or need it
*You are healthy and happy and content

We love you Emma Lemma Ding Dong, Emma Lem, Lemma, Emmaroo, Lemmers, Doll Face, Baby Doll!

State Fair Fun...

We took Jack down the slide 3 times! He kept begging for more!I think Brandon was a little petrified on the slide. Notice how he's holding onto Jack!

What we've been up to

This little sweet thing fell asleep at 10 last night and woke up at 6 this morning.

This mischevious one snuck downstairs to play with Daddy's sports stuff.
Jack and his little buddy, Taylor Grace, decorated Emma last Saturday night.
We completed our Mom and Tot tumbling class! He's showing you his sticker.
New pictures are up on Flickr

Random Updates

* I survived my one week trial at being a single mom. Brandon was in Las Vegas for the dealer show and I was home with the kids. Thank god for in-laws and DVR! We made it through just fine, but boy were we glad when Daddy walked in the door!

* The new dishwasher and stove are awesome! Not that I've been cooking much...

* Emma is a chunky monkey just like her brother was! She's already over 12 pounds! She's smiling lots and really starting to coo and make noises other than screaming.

* We have been enjoying our mom and tot tumbling class immensely! Jack still refuses to do the group warm ups- lots of songs and stretching. When it's time to do the actual activities though, he's all over it! His favorite things are the trampoline and the obstacle course. It's so fun to spend that special mom and boy time together. He went to Kung Fu Panda this week with Daddy. He showed him where to get the popcorn, lemonade and the straws. He came home and showed me how to bow and say "master and skidoosh" whatever that's about! We've been taking him to the pricier kids place for haircuts this summer. His hair is so thin, fine, and blond that you can see every scissor cut. So when he gets a bad haircut- you can REALLY tell! Catherine has been doing such a great job with his hair that it's worth the money. This week she said Jack was one of her best behaved customers! He sits so still in the chair and really takes it seriously. He gave her a big hug goodbye when we left!

* Emma has been pretty much sleeping through the night for about a week now. She stopped eating over night right at 6 weeks (just like Jack did) and if she wakes up now, she just needs her pacifier. Last night she was asleep by 10:30 and got up at 5:45. Since she's sleeping so well, how come I'm still so tired in the morning??

* Jack made a trip up to Green Bay with Brandon, Bampa, and Bampa's brother, Bernie on Friday. Jack had a great time doing the Lambeau Leap and scoring some touch downs at the hall of fame. What a big boy adventure he had!

* I have to be at school on August 26th for meetings. I can't believe how this summer has flown by! Actually, I can. Throw a newborn into the mix and the time just speeds on by. I'm excited to get back to school. A few nights ago I couldn't go to sleep until I made a list of all my new ideas for this school year. I'm going to do some work in my classroom this week so it's not crazy during our week of meetings. It's been a great summer hanging out with Jack and Emma, but I can really say that I'm definitely made to be a working mom. We're lucky enough to have 2 very loving grandparents to watch the kids while we're at work. It makes the choice to go back to work that much easier.

Here are some pics of my chunky monkey!

Stretching after a nap

Jack used to make this face!!
I'm watching you, Mom!
Big Stretch! Check out those toned thighs!!!
Here comes Finley!

* Have you seen that show on TLC called Rock the Reception? Love it!

* I can't believe I've failed to mention this-- Emma's hair is totally CURLY after I wash and dry it!!!! I wonder if it'll stay that way....

You won't believe this.

Emma ate at 8:00 last night, went to bed at 10:00 and didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning!!!

Did you hear (read) me???????

SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And just because I wrote about it, she'll be up all night tonight. Think of me at 2 am.
*****
Did you see the new pictures I put up on Flickr? I took the kids to get their pictures taken about 3 weeks ago- some of them are up there. Jack has a baby of his own now... the doll my Aunt Rita gave me is now his baby, Ali. He feeds her, burps her, and occasionally throws her on the floor. What a great daddy he'll be someday!

6 Weeks

Emma is 6 weeks old today and I find myself breathing a sigh of relief. She has completely come out of that "newborn fog" where all they do is cry and sleep and you keep saying to yourself "Thank god she's cute cause if she wasn't I'd be REALLY frustrated with seeing her little face at 3 in the morning every night!"

At 6 weeks this little girl is just a cuddly little bug that I can't get enough of! She's officially smiling now- I got a goofy one this morning that I wish I'd caught on camera! She loves looking all around and holding her head WAAAAY up when you burp her. She loves watching her big brother, loves her swing, and still loves to be swaddled up and held real close when she's trying to fall asleep.

Is it possible to love your baby even more now than when they were born? Maybe it's that we were so busy trying to survive the first 6 weeks that we couldn't take the time to really sit back and enjoy her. Whatever it is, I'm overwhelmed with love for this little Emma Lemma Ding Dong.

6

Happy 6 year anniversary to us!

How did we celebrate?

* A kidless dinner
*A brand new DISHWASHER AND STOVE!!
*A million new picture frames for all the pictures we've wanted to frame for years....

6 years of marriage, 2 kids who we adore 99.9% of the time and want to sell .1% of the time, and a wonder dog who usually drives us crazy all the time........ and we still love each other! Amazing.

A Few of my Favorite Things...

Here are a few things we've added to our lives to make things SO much easier!

Mama's new ride

Jack and Emma's new ride

A weekly outing for sure!

My new car is fabulous! Much roomier than the old one, and I love the sunroof!! It's no minivan- but it gets us to where we need to be.

Jack and Emma's new stroller is just what we needed. We went for the double stroller option since Jack still likes to have a comfy seat to sit in. When he's ready, we'll take out his seat so he can "sit 'n stand".

We finally got our own Zoo pass! So now I can take the kids whenever I want to and not have to worry about staying long enough to get our money's worth. Bring on the animals!

** In other news, Jack and I start our weekly "Mom and Tot Tumbling Class" tomorrow morning! That should be very interesting. I'm not much of a tumbler you know! I think it'll be fun just to have some Mama and Jack time no matter what we think of the class.

On Thursday Jack and I have another date as we attend our 2nd movie of the summer. Last week we saw Horton Hears a Who and this week it's the Bee Movie. A local theater puts on the program every summer. They show a different kid movie every week, admission is only 2 bucks and the popcorn is free. Jack was all about the popcorn last week and loved the lemonade too. I'm so glad that Moe Moe and Bampa can come over and watch Emma so Jack and I still get our special time together.

We haven't made it to the stores yet for that new dishwasher. Emma is actually in the middle of a really good nap and I'm pretty sure nothing in the world could make me wake up our little demanding princess! Yikes!

1 Month Dr. Appt.

Emma had her one month appointment today. She's doing really well! Here are her stats:

11.4 pounds (95%)
22 inches (80%)

Her belly button looks all healed (it had been a bit gooey at her one week appt.), her tear duct has unplugged (it had been clogged and her eye was usually a goopy mess), and the burst capillaries in her eyeballs have totally disappeared. So all we're left with is a little baby girl, who if I do say so myself, gets cuter every day!

We had a super busy 4 day weekend. Nae Nae and Dude were her from Florida to visit. We went to a Brewer game, went to the zoo, had a special blessing at church for her godparents (Nae Nae and Dude are 2 of her godparents, but they won't be able to be here later this summer/fall for her actual baptism), and spent a lot of time just hanging out all together. As fun as the weekend was, we're all pretty exhausted! I'm looking forward to this week as we work on getting Jack back onto his normal schedule.

After a weekend full of attention (which he eats up as any other 2 1/2 year old would!), tonight he was in heaven as he played upstairs in the playroom with his cars and trucks all by himself. I could tell he really just wanted some alone time to play and chill out so I let him be. He came downstairs every so often to show me something, but he played by himself for over an hour and was happy as a clam. Tonight he was sound asleep by 8:00.

On the agenda for tomorrow... shopping for a new dishwasher! Ooooh the excitment!!! Actually, we REALLY need a new one, so it will quite possibly be the highlight of July! Taking 2 kids to various stores to search for the best dishwasher... wish me luck!

1 Month

We adore you, Emma Lemma Ding Dong!

Catching Up

**I put a link to my Flickr pictures on the right sidebar...

**My cousin's little boy, Elijah, is now at home recovering from the surgery that removed the tumor. They are cautiously optimistic about everything. So far he's doing just great. Thanks for all of your prayers and wishes for them!! Check out her blog in the coming days for an update.

**We had a great 4th of July. My parents stayed with us for the weekend and joined us for all the fun. We enjoyed the local parade, had a cookout at Moe Moe and Bampa's house, walked around the 3rd Ward, and just hung out together. It was so laid back and relaxing. A perfect weekend!

**Emma is getting bigger every day. She's now in size 1 swaddlers, and drinks anywhere from 4 to 6 ounces at each feeding! She is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time and is sleeping really well at night. I'd say we had a really rough beginning with her, but it's all coming together now. We've finally figured out what works best with her- thank goodness!

**Brandon and I were just saying today how Jack has really settled into this new life with a baby in the house. He doesn't care if Moe Moe holds her anymore! He continues to check on her, kiss her, hug her, and let me know what she's doing. This morning I woke up to his little feet running towards my bedroom and then his little voice saying "Mama! Wake up! Baby Emma cry! What a good big brother.

**Finley is enjoying the air conditioner we put in the playroom- and has almost forgiven me for buying him the wrong dog food. It must have been my lack of sleep. We had switched his food a few months ago and he was LOVING the new stuff. When we ran out, I automatically told the people at the store to get us his old kind. I didn't realize what I had done until he ate his breakfast and promptly threw it all up on the floor! His poor stomach! Since his food is pricey- we're making him finish it. At least he still loves us!

**Timmy and Liz's wedding was a blast. The whole weekend went much smoother with 2 kids than we thought it would. I'll get some more pictures to post. It was beautiful! Jack did a great job as the ring bearer- he walked down the aisle with Timmy. It was so cute!!!

**We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Brandon's sister and brother-in-law (Nae Nae and Dude). They're visiting us at the end of next week and we CAN'T WAIT! Jack has talked about them and their dogs pretty much non stop since we visited them over winter break. Hurry up and get here!!!

**I have ordered Emma's birth announcements so you should expect to get one in the next 2 weeks. Leave a comment if I don't have your address!

The Wedding

Pictures

Thanks to a genius I know, I've created an account on Flickr so you can see pictures without me having to spend a lifetime putting them on the blog.

See if this works:

www.flickr.com/photos/finleysfamily

What day is it?

The following is the beginning of a post I started over a week ago. Time flies when you have no time to blog!

You gotta love the total chaos, confusion, and mind-numbing exhaustion that comes with having a newborn in the house! It's been an interesting few days to say the least. Our perfect little calm baby we had in the hospital showed what we're hoping aren't her true colors on Saturday. Instead of sleeping sweetly and sucking on her bottle like a newborn should- she preferred to scream her little head off and leave us wondering what the heck happened to our little angel! She had some sucking issues the day after she was born, but had it all pretty much figured out by the time we went home.



On Saturday however, she would get so incredibly mad that she'd scream and cry and not be able to settle down and remember how to suck on the nipple correctly. That led to an exhausting day and night filled with bouncing, running the water for white noise, swaddling and reswaddling, hushing, singing, and pretty much anything else we could think of to calm her down. Good times!

Yesterday was much better and today has been really good as well.



I'd like to think we're figuring her out a little more as time goes by. We've realized that if that bottle isn't in her mouth within 3-4 minutes of her waking up- good luck! She'll revert back to her screaming and head shaking as she tries to remember how to suck. She sometimes has trouble falling asleep on her own (something that is COMPLETELY foreign to us since Jack was just about the best sleeper ever) and needs our help to do so.

.... that's how things were in the days after we brought her home from the hospital....

Things are much calmer around here now! Emma is finally settling in and starting to become more predictable. She still has trouble falling asleep on her own at times, but is much easier to calm down when she's mad. We don't have to run quite so fast for the bottle when she wakes up, she's getting much better at remembering how to suck on the nipple even if she's really mad. She likes to sleep as much as Jack did, it just takes her a little longer to settle down. Last night she was asleep by 10. She woke up at 2:45 and was back asleep 45 minutes later. It sure feels good to be getting a lot more sleep around here.

Jack is doing really well. He really and truly loves his baby sister. He loves to come up and kiss her on the head, give us updates on if her eyes are open or closed when we're in the car, and show her all of her toys when she's playing under her activity thingy. He's been acting out a little bit- and needs his Mama to put him to bed and give him a bath. Overall I don't think we could ask much more from him. His little world has been turned around over the past almost 2 weeks and he's really done a good job handling it.

I have a bunch of pictures to put up. Before I do that though I need to hook up our external hard drive and dump all 74 million old pictures onto it before our computer crashes! So hang in there!

*** On a very different note, we got some really upsetting news late last week. My cousin, Liz, and her family are going through a really rough time right now. Her baby boy Elijah has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. You might have checked out the link to her blog while reading mine- hers is called The Petro Family. We are keeping little Elijah and the whole family in our prayers. They are constantly on our minds and we hope you all will say a bunch of prayers for them too.

And then there were 4...

We're home- and there are 4 of us! Well, 5 if you count Finley too!

So far everything is going really well. Jack is adjusting to his new baby sister. He comes over and rubs her head and gives her smooches every so often. We're not pressing him to do anything he doesn't want to. It'll take lots of time for all of us to settle into the routine of being a family of 4.

As for Emma's arrival, it was amazing! As you know from the previous posts, I saw the midwife on Monday at 3:45. After that I started having more cramping/contractions. We went out to dinner with Brandon's parents and by the time we got home, I knew something was up. Since I was induced with Jack, I never experienced any labor symptoms without pitocin so I was really unsure about what I was feeling and what I should do. The contractions were getting a little more regular and painful, so I called the hospital at 10:45. They said to come on in. I told them I'd wait a little bit longer, I still wasn't sure if it was really real yet.

I started timing the contractions after that, and once I realized they were 3 minutes apart, I decided it was time to go! We called Brandon's parents to come and stay with Jack and we headed for the emergency room. Once I got into my room and was checked out, it was about 12:30. I was already 6 cm dilated! Since it seemed to be going fast, I signed up for the epidural right away. After at least 3 attempts to make the epidural work (only my left leg was numb) it finally took effect. I got about 10 minutes of pain relief until they broke my water and I was 8-9 cm dilated. At that point the terrible pressure started and before I knew it the midwife was there and I was pushing! I pushed through maybe 4 contractions and out she came! It was amazing. Since the epidural really wasn't that effective, I could actually feel what was going on and I felt much more in control than I did with Jack. Just as she was about all the way out, the midwife had me reach down and pull her out and onto my stomach! It was incredible. That's exactly how I wanted the delivery to go and I got my wish. I just didn't think it would happen quite so fast! She was born at 4:33 in the morning.

I'm much less sore this time than I was with Jack. Maybe it's because I didn't push for as long or something.

Emma is a total doll. Her face was pretty bruised from being born so fast, but that has pretty much gone away now. She has lots of dark hair and beautiful big blue eyes. We are loving her to pieces!

And now for some pictures... they are a tad out of order

Yikes! Looking really good while in labor!!! :)

11:45 and headed to the hospital

Uncle Timmy and Emma

First hair wash

8 cm

6 cm

4 cm

Mama, Jack, and Emma

Brother and Sister

Thanks for the shirt Auntie Sizzy! Beautiful girl





Going home outfit
Jack wanted Emma to lay down with him after his nap
2 kids passed out in the car

Headed Home

She's finally here!

Emma Kate
Born Tuesday, June 10th at 4:33am
8lbs. 4oz.
20 inches

How dedicated am i??

posting during a contraction!!!

i called and the nurse said i should come in- what?????? i don't think i'm ready for that!!!!!

pretty consistent contractions now not too painful, but getting more intense... we'll see how i feel in the next hour. then we'll go in. maybe.