Wrapping up Summer

Sunset on Lake Norman

   It's hard to believe that summer has come and gone so quickly! I feel like it was just last week I was franticly shopping for new tank tops that fit my post pregnancy body. Now I'm going through all my fall things that haven't seen the light of day in over a year! (I feel a new shopping spree is needed, necessary really.)

This summer was filled with so many wonderful memories.  As mentioned in our previous posts, first family vacation, a new nephew, a flock of chickens. This last month of summer has been sweet as well. Ray and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We went to a quiet dinner at a fancy place called Dressler's and ate ourselves sick...it was wonderful. We had to force ourselves to take our time eating and enjoy some good long conversation. A baby quickly trains you to scarf down your food and have quick, get to the point conversations about life. I'm sure that anniversaries are something to be celebrated with parties and long day/weekend vacations and presents. Ours was quiet, no fluff, no gifts and dinner on a Wednesday night. This, however, seemed perfect for our lives at this moment. Here we are right before leaving the house. This is the nicest we've looked in some time. It felt good to put product in my hair and wear eyeliner and lip gloss. Ah, the simple joys of life. It was a blessing to spend quality time together. I love this man. He keeps me grounded, makes me laugh and is the best daddy to our daughter. 

First pony tail with a bow

Other very exciting news, a least from a girl's perspective, and no I didn't win a $10,000 shopping spree at Pottery Barn (so sad), BUT, something almost as great! I can now put bows in Emma Kate's hair. Everyone said her hair would fall out but the Lord was merciful and it just kept getting longer and thicker. One night at dinner I decided to try out a bow. The head bands are adorable and I love them and all but there is something in a woman, something that her heart anticipates, that is to put her daughter's hair in a pony tail. Why this is I'm not sure, we are fearfully and wonderfully made with a desire for cuteness. I twisted up the locks on her head and was able to put a bow right on top of her head to make a cute, tiny, 3 inch pony tail. I was SO excited! Ray, however, could not, for the life of him, understand my excitement. He actually tried to tell me to cut her hair!!! He said she has a mullet. After I regained my composure I told him that was complete blasphemy and we would NEVER cut her hair. Ok, so I over exaggerated a little. Needless to say, I'm happy to adorn our sweet little one with small bows in her hair. A milestone for babyhood. She will never be mistaken for a boy again. Now, to go shopping for more! :)  

Another first this month was real food! I wasn't planning on starting solids until she was six months old. But, after doing some research I realized that it can't hurt to introduce solid food just so she can become familiar with it. Her first taste of food was avocado. I placed two slices on her tray and let her go at it. Eating it, surprisingly, was not the first thing she did even though that's the first thing she does with everything else. She smashed and smeared it everywhere. Finally she managed, with my help, to get a piece in her mouth and began to lick and suck. We watched for a reaction as it fell out of her mouth...she leaned forward for more! Success! Most the avocado ended up on her bib or face but she did get down a few chunks.  It was so neat to she her experiment and try new things. It made me realize how interesting and wonderful food is. Babies help you see things in a new light. We haven't tried anything else since except for a few sucks of a plum and a chunk of banana, all she seemed to like. Her first real meal will come in another month or so once she learns to swallow a little better without gagging. 

What is this?

Not that bad!

The same day as our anniversary Emma Kate turned 20 weeks/ 5 months old. She is growing up so fast and developing quiet the silly personality. She smiles at everyone, is extremely curious and kicks and moves every moment of the day. She's working hard on sitting up but still hasn't mastered it. She also cannot roll over yet, she really doesn't try too hard though and when she does she gets stuck on her side. I'm pretty sure her big ol' belly is preventing her from executing the perfect roll. Also, she has found her feet and LOVE them. She assumes a wonderful position, what Ray calls the bug pose...on her back, feet up in the air and her hands reaching for them. It's the cutest thing to watch but they do distract her from sleep sometimes. We also learned this month that she has quite the intolerance to mosquito bites. The past week we've been battling blisters, rashes and swelling from those little boogers. Good news is she stayed pretty happy through it all. She seemed more irritated over the medicines then anything. The pictures below are her five month pictures. She had been sitting up but flopped over at the last minute, it ended up being more cute this way I think. Her signature is the tongue, seen below. It is sticking out of her mouth all the time! It's hilarious. 

Five Months Old

Our little doll

Below are some more pictures from this month. Mostly her first experience with all.

She loves her jumparoo/ baby space ship. We introduced it to her this month.

Emma Kate had her first boat ride on Lake Norman with mommy and the other racing wives. She loved the wind. 

This month she met her new cousin! Pop, Nina, Timothy and Emma Kate (and Gloria Magic Face, her unicorn)

Emma Kate is quite advanced, she can already read.

One of her favorite things is to ride in carrier with daddy and watch the chickens.

Summer's Heat and Baby Rolls

Our little butter cake at the beach for the first time.

   First, I apologize for the lack of posting. As you read it will become clear that we've been quite busy since. (And just being a new mom and remembering to shower for the day it usually the top priority on my list, and sometimes that doesn't even get done!)

   This summer has been filled with so many events it's hard to talk about them all, so I will just talk about the most exciting ones, beginning with our first family vacation to the beach. To soak up the last off weekend in the race season until the end of November Ray and I decided to head down to Myrtle Beach for a fun, first family vacation. Being a last minute packer worked when it was just Ray and I. But I didn't realize you'd need something short of a U-Haul (or Penske Rental truck) when you have a baby. A 6 day vacation calls for 103 baby outfits, a BJ's size box of diapers, night time diapers, swim diapers, pack-n-play, beach towels, sunscreen, sun tent for baby, extra sheets for the crib, stroller, carriers, Bumbo chair, blankets, etc. Anyway, we managed not to forget anything! Emma Kate was a champ in the long 4.5 hour car ride. The next day we took no time venturing for the beach. As we were unloading our car a security guard sauntered over with a smile on his face (sign that we weren't in trouble so he must be coming over to admire our ever so adorable chunk). He looks at Ray and says "I've had five of those. At that age, I give you 45 minutes...an hour tops. See you soon." Of course, we thought, that's other babies. Emma Kate is awesome. We spend 15 minutes settling in to our spot on the beach, our beach chairs get accidently stolen by an eight year old, Ray chases the family down before they drive off and EK is taking a snooze in her tent...perfect. When she wakes we take her for her first dip in the ocean. She loved it, although we didn't get a picture of her smiling.  

   Once we got her out of the ocean, she got hungry. This did not work out as she was hot under the nursing cover. Then our beach neighbor lit up a cigaret, so rude but I won't get on that soap box here. This called for a very unhappy baby. On top of her woes, she poops, a lot. Princess Poopy Pants strikes again, she was now swimming in yellow mush. So we decided to pack up and head back to the condo...our total time on the beach?...50 minutes. As we walk back to the car the security guard waves and we wave back, defeated. The next day was too hot for anything so we went to the mall. By Wednesday we were exhausted but determined, at the moment, to hang in there. That evening we get a phone call that our little nephew Timothy Scott had entered the world! We were so excited but family encouraged us to enjoy the rest of our trip. About 3 hours later at 8pm Emma Kate came down with quite a severe tummy ache. After screaming, crying, pooping, and a bath we finally get her to calm down. That is, until he bangs her nose on Rays thumb as we are getting her dressed. After more screaming and crying, we finally coax her to sleep by 11pm. At that point we decided to head home early. The beach in the middle of the summer with a 3 and half month old is just too much. We packed up as much as we could that night and we were on the road home by 11am the next day. Everyone slept hard Thursday night and Friday we went to visit Timothy. After seeing his sweet face, the joy in Angela's eyes and the pride on my brother's face we knew it was the right decision to cut vacation short. 

Timothy meeting his uncle Ray

   On our way home from Charlotte we decided to soak up our last few days and relax; a staycation as people call it. This will be awesome! The chickens (we have 7 of them, I'll maybe write about them later, along with our gardening ventures), on the other hand decided to take an exploration while we were gone to Charlotte. We pull in and walk around back to check on the little creatures. They were gone...all of them...nowhere to be found! Panic started to set in. Did the fox get the rest of them? He already got one. But there were no signs of struggle. Did our neighbors steal them? No, they hate our chickens... Gasp! they must have called animal control! No, they can't do that. Where are they?! Ray checks the woods behind the house, no chickens. He hops in the truck and takes a cruise around the neighborhood. The girls had sauntered their way through the woods and were happily grazing in our neighbor's back yard! (The phrase should be "curious as a chicken" not "curious as a cat") We manage to herd them back to our yard, squawking and flapping, without our neighbor knowing they were there. Needless to say they were on coop arrest for the next day or so. So much for staycation.

   The rest of our summer has been wonderful. Emma Kate had her first 4th of July. We bought a wonderful truck that we love. Ray is working hard on transforming our side yard into a beautiful garden so we can grown fresh food and our chickens should be laying eggs by the end of August. It's hard to believe that Emma Kate will be 4 months old this week on August 1st. Time has flown and she is starting to become quite independent, sitting in her own chair, holding onto and playing with toys, trying her hardest to roll over and having 3 nights of sleeping for 8 hours straight! Lets hope this is a new habit. Our favorite thing this summer has been seeing her learn to laugh. We, without a doubt, have the happiest baby on the planet. She will laugh and smile at pretty much anything and only fusses when she's tired. We are truly blessed with a wonderful family and do not take advantage of the blessing the Lord has poured upon us with the means to plant gardens, raise chickens, buy truck loads for diapers and take vacations, even if they are cut short. 

Checking our her feet in her Bumbo chair

Snoozing on the beach

First Mother's Day, she was thrilled

Two months old

First 4th of July, also the day she turned 3 months old

3 months old

The Stork's Flight Delay

More of these to come

One month later, I finally get to the post everyone has been waiting for. April 1st came and went with no baby...worst April fools joke ever! One week passed, still no baby. Went to the doctors office and they put me on Evening Primrose Oil which supposedly helps move things along, had me walking all the time, dancing, etc. Nothing worked and I was convinced that I would be pregnant for the rest of my life and I'd end up on some late night TLC show, "Pregnant for 45 years". Luckily, that didn't happen. On Tuesday, April 10th I saw my midwife and I was 3cm (big deal I thought, I've been that for 3 weeks). At 6pm that evening I was having very mild contractions but thought nothing of them. I had just downloaded a contraction counter on my phone and because I was bored decided to just time them to get a feel for how it worked. After about 45 minutes of timing I realized "hey, these things are actually consistent ...strange" so I told Ray "my contractions have been 1 minute and 5 minutes apart, but they don't hurt that much." Ray wisely told me to call the midwife. I was told to ignore them and if they get stronger to let her know, if I lay down and they get worse then it's probably time. So I decided to ignore it and go to bed early at 9pm. I wake back up at 10:03 (I looked at the clock) and was in severe pain. I woke Ray up and told him this was it. I was able to labor at home only until 10:50. We got to the birth center at 11:15 and I was 6.5cm. Baby girl was on her way and quickly. 

Contraction

I jump into a big warm birth pool and at 5:21am, April 11th our sweet Emma Kathryn was born at 7lbs 4oz and 21 inches long. We couldn't have asked for a better birth experience.

Jump forward to one month, 3 lbs and 1 inch later (she is has her daddy's genes for sure), we are loving parenthood. Although we have struggled with some very minor issues we can't imagine life without our little Stinkpot. Sweet Emma Kate has been struggling with some tummy troubles and 
we have been taking some measures to help her out. It's been slow but progressive improvement and we are happy that it is nothing serious and will work itself out with time.


Below are just a few of the many many pictures we've taken of her thus far. It's amazing how fast they change and grow! It's been confirmed that she is a long baby and will be quite tall. Her hight and weight are in the 90th percentile. Her cute little newborn clothes fit her for a week and she now has to wear 3 month clothes. They are too wide for her thin body but they are long enough. I told Ray I want to start a designer baby line where newborn clothes come in Short, Regular and Long, just like designer jeans.

We thank you for all your prayers, support, food, etc. It goes without saying that we are blessed beyond what anyone ever deserves and have been given so much grace. 

First Bath

Check out my new belly button!

Spider Monkey baby

Crazy hair

The Count Down Has Started

The nursery is ready, the bags are packed and the car seat is installed. Today I am 38 weeks and 4 days, 6 days away from my due date!  It still amazes me that our amazing God has knitted together a beautiful little girl without any of my help. One day there is nothing, 9 months later that nothing is kicking me in the ribs. It's absolutely dumbfounding. I keep thinking of the little factoid Ray heard in a sermon: if at the moment of conception a baby is the size of an orange, by the time of birth that orange would have grow to be the size of the earth. How amazing is that?! It blows my mind. We worship an awesome God.

Although I am finding these last days difficult, I can't help but think that this pregnancy has flown by with much ease and blessing. Every ache and pain I have I can't help but think, usually after a slight moment of complaint I must admit, that all the discomfort is so very worth it. We are ready to meet our little girl and discover her personality. Will she be a thinker like her daddy? Have his contagious laugh?  Will she have a creative streak like her mommy? Make the same silly facial expressions? We just can't wait to find out!

Last week a dear friend of mine called me over the weekend and told me to be at her house at 9am Monday morning. She had gotten a hold of a college student with a talent for photography and asked her to take some maternity pictures with my camera.  I had put off pictures of this kind due to the insane cost to hire a professional and just sheer laziness.  She would hear none of my complaints and insisted I needed to capture this special time. It ended up being such a blessing and I'm glad she scheduled it. Below are some of the pictures taken. The Harley picture was just for fun but it ended up being a favorite among many. Ray found this one especially humorous and encouraged me to share it with the world. I hope you enjoy.

For those of you who remember these shoes in my bridal portraits, it was suggested the red shoes make an appearance for this shoot as well.  It seems appropriate.