Emma- Four Months

Dear Emma,

Today, you are four months old! I say this every month, but I'll say it again...I can't believe how fast time goes. You did a lot this month, and every day I fall more and more in love with you. You make mommy & daddy laugh, but you also challenge us which makes us better partners because we both want the very best for you. We try to show you that we love each other, because we want you to know that you were born into a family of love, and that you are very very loved! 

The biggest highlight this month is that you rolled over. We were so proud of you, and now you never stop! Often I find you in the morning sleeping on your stomach because you had flipped in the middle of the night and then fallen back asleep. Now we just need to get you to learn how to get back on your back, because right now you get frustrated if you are on your tummy for too long. 

You have had a cold most of this month, which has been challenging for all of us. I feel bad because there isn't much I can do to help you out besides using the nasal aspirator and sitting in the bathroom with you while the shower runs so it gets nice and steamy. One of my favorite memories of this month is actually of us sitting in the bathroom while the steam was clearing out your nose and I was singing Christmas carols to you (we were home for Christmas). I would look down and see you smiling at me, and occasionally you would try and sing along :)

We have also endured many road trips this month, going back and forth to Chicago from Minneapolis 2 weekends in a row. I think you didn't like sitting in the car that long because you screamed your head off for at least 2 hours both ways. Luckily, our last drive back to Chicago is in just a couple weeks and then I promise we won't bring you on a car ride for that long until we get an iPad holder for the head rest so that you can watch some cartoons or something.

I love you and can't wait to see what you learn this month!

Mommy

Christmas

We had a great first Christmas as a family of three back home in Chicago. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and went to the children's service at church which totally eased my fears of bringing Emma to church. It was quick and loud, if there was a child crying no one cared. I wish there was a children's service all the time! Christmas morning was spent at Brandon's parents house along with Emma's cousin Brady, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Matt. We had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, Bay's english muffins, Brandon's famous egg dishes & other wonderful breakfast treats.

After the breakfast I look forward to all year, Brandon and Brady had a good time goofing off (I'm surprised that no food came back out!) then it was present time. Emma had no concept of presents, but I had a great time opening her gifts for her :) Next year she'll probably be tearing into them herself.

I am seriously sad that Emma's first Christmas is over, but I have to look forward to the years to come. I can't wait for her to be running around after her cousin and seeing the joy on her face when she sees presents under the tree and a stocking full of goodies. 

Emma Rolls Over

This weekend we surprised Brandon's mom by coming into town for the weekend. Brandon's family was celebrating Christmas on Saturday, so we thought it would be a fun surprise to drive down from Minnesota to celebrate with them. We had a great time with the family, and Emma rolled over for the first time! On Friday night, Ann told me that it seemed as though she was trying to roll over because she would get herself onto her side and then stay there for a bit. Well, imagine my surprise when no more than a few hours later I hear Emma crying in her room and I go in and she's on her tummy! The girl the proceeded to roll over again while Brandon and I watched. Here's a video of her doing it the next day:

 It is so cool to see these little things, it's amazing how little prompting babies need to reach developmental stages. I've only helped her roll over a few times before she did it on her own, almost like she knows instinctually how to do it. Babies have always fascinated me, but now that I have one of my own and get to watch her experience new things every day I am even more fascinated by the tiniest milestones.

Back on Track

I haven't done much in terms of blogging this past weekend because my parents came into town! It was fun to see them, even though it was a very short time with my dad. My mom came up to help take care of Emma while I had an appointment at Mayo Clinic for a lump in my breast that needed a biopsy. Thank goodness for smart, intelligent, friendly doctors and nurses because they took several more pictures of the lump and were able to determine that it is a fibroadenoma. Sounds complicated, but all that means is it is a small, contained, non cancerous tumor. If you're interested you can read more here. I knew going into this whole thing that I would be fine, but you start to hear a lot about breast cancer while you're answering doctor's questions both in person and while filling out all those forms. And then my mind starts going to dark places like, what if I'm not fine? What if Emma has to grow up with a mom who has cancer? What if I don't make it? You know, all those really dark far-fetched places that someone with an active imagination like myself tends to go quite often. Thankfully, it's nothing I need to worry about. I can get them removed if I want to, otherwise I just need to keep an eye on things to make sure that nothing gets out of hand.

While I was in the waiting room waiting for my breast ultrasound after just having another mammogram, I overheard the woman next to me telling her daughter that she had stage 2 breast cancer and was worried that it could be stage 3. A few minutes later her doctor came over and talked to her and she was crying and it really made me realize how scary that news must be to get. I can't imagine how I would react if given news that I was about to begin the fight of a lifetime.

I am so thankful for the life I have, and don't want to take any of it for granted. It is so easy to find myself wanting more, and usually it's something so frivolous. Yes, Brandon and I don't have a lot of money right now, but we have a lot of fun. We may not be buying a lot of things, but we are creating a lot of memories.

This picture is super blurry because right as I started taking it Emma rolled off Brandon.

Did you know?

On Amazon right now they are giving away FOR FREE one Christmas song every day. That's right, it's pretty awesome especially if you're like me and you just can't resist Christmas music this time of year. So I am slowly building my Holiday music collection, budget style.

On another note, I finally figured out how to make the pictures on my blog bigger thanks to Google and a bit of dabbling in the HTML section. Maybe I will try to learn HTML rather than just compose much like I am trying to use manual on my camera rather than automatic.

30 DPC: Day 7

Topic: I was inspired

This picture inspires me to get more creative in my photography. I am trying to keep my camera on manual more often than automatic so that I can experiment with different light & generally give more mood and atmosphere to my photographs. I hate the way a flash washes everything out. I was reading some tips on how to take better low light photography without a flash, and a good piece of advise I got was if it's too dark to get a good shot, just put your camera down and enjoy the moment. To me that means that sometimes a photograph just isn't meant to capture what will be captured by your memory instead. While I love photography because you are able to capture a moment in time, you are never fully able to capture the memory because there is so much more to a memory than a visual image. So I need to learn to put down my camera every once in a while and just enjoy the moment.

30 DPC: Days 5 & 6

Yesterday was a rough day for Emma...and me. Poor little baby was constipated all day and would scream a horrible scream every time she tried to poop. If it wouldn't be so painfully embarrassing for her, I would post a picture of her face while trying to poop. It's really sad, but I feel bad for laughing at the same time. I mean the poor girl was in so. much. pain but, she was pooping. Pooping is always funny, right?

Anyway, that, along with the great time I spent with my cousin yesterday cooking chili and baking cookies, are the reasons why I was not able to get my pictures in for the 30 Day Photo Challenge. I will include them both today.

Day 5: Birthday- share a birthday picture, yours or someone you love.

Ok, I will show a birthday picture of two people I love, my hubby & my nephew. Their birthdays are 10 days & 29 years apart, but we celebrated them on the same day before we moved to Minnesota. They are so cute together, Brady loves his uncle B. I believe this picture shows how much fun they have together.

Day 6: Friends- this could be your friends or a picture of your children with their friends.

How about both? Here is a photo of me and my two girlfriends with their baby girls. The three of us all had babies within about a month. It was so cool to be able to go through my first pregnancy with a couple of my good friends who were also going through their first pregnancies. And we all had girls, how fun! I think they're all going to be friends for life, even if we don't live nearby.

30 DPC: Day 4

Topic: Winter Wonderland- show a picture that reflects Winter

I love how all the bare trees and the blues in the water & sky make this picture seem very cold.

Photoshop Practice

Along with my fancy new camera, I am trying to sharpen my photoshop & editing skills. It's really neat when I look at my straight out of camera shots and think "hey that looks pretty good" but it's even neater to look at a photo after I've edited it and think "wow, that looks awesome!". Here is my first attempt at some processing in photoshop. I've included my straight out of camera shot first, followed by the edit.

I thought that the original image captured the afternoon sunlight pretty well, but after some edits I realize that the potential was much greater. I am very happy with how my first photoshop edit turned out. I can't wait to edit more photos!

30 DPC: Day 3

Topic: Still laughing...a moment you're still laughing about.

I hate roller coasters. They just freak me out. But a couple years ago, Brandon and I went to Disney World with his parents. The rides are super tame, but I am still a big wimp. This ride, tame as it is, freaked me out because there are these really sharp curves where your car spins around at the same time you're rounding the corner and I kept yelling "I'm too heavy for this ride, it's going to launch us off the ride!". Haha, we still talk about this today, how unbelievably crazy I was on this super chill Disney World ride. I was convinced that my weight (of course it would be my fault alone, never mind there were 3 other people in the car with me) would catapult us off the tracks. 

Suffice it to say, we're still alive. Disney engineers for the win.

Let the maid clean up...

I snapped a few pictures this afternoon of Emma napping on our unmade bed. Housekeeping has come 2 days in a row now, both times while she was napping so our room has yet to be cleaned. I keep leaving the bed unmade hoping that while I'm running around in the morning housekeeping will take care of it to no avail. Oh well, here's to a clean room on Monday...

30 DPC: Day 2

Day 2: I love you

I love these two. They are my life. I took this picture at my sisters wedding, a beautiful fall day this October. I love this picture because Emma totally looks like her dad, and she is just so comfortable hanging out in his arms. She is such a daddy's girl, and I am ok with it. There is nothing better than seeing Brandon with her.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 1

As we head into 2012, I thought a 30 day photo challenge would be a fun way to reflect on this past year. It would force encourage me to take more pictures with my wonderful new camera as well as blog more. I used to write a lot, but once I learned how to type suddenly writing became really hard and I would get hand cramps so I didn't like journaling very much anymore. Sad, but true. (Side note, I also gave up the piano in first grade because I didn't like how my back would hurt when I was constantly told to sit up straight. Also sad, but true). So I found a challenge on the blog Ramblings and Photos and decided to give it a whirl. 

So without further ado, here begins day one: Me. The topic: What are you most proud of in 2011?

I post this photo, not because it's the best photo of me, but because it best represents what I am most proud of in 2011. I took this picture just three days before Emma was born, fully expecting to have another two weeks to relax and enjoy my maternity leave. I am proud of my pregnancy. I started out overweight, but ended up not gaining a whole lot so I was quickly down to my pre-pregnancy weight. While that is still heavier than I should be, at least I'm making it easier on myself to just lose weight and not baby weight on top of it. I felt like I took really good care of myself during my pregnancy making sure to eat right (of course there were some cheats, I was pregnant for goodness sake!) & exercise regularly. Because of this I feel as though I had a relatively easy pregnancy, and at the end of it all I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl after a mere 7 hours in labor. So, being pregnant and giving birth are what I am most proud of in 2011.