More Birthday Fun

Did I mention that April is a busy month? Last Saturday we continued the theme of birthdays as we celebrated Zander turning 4. He is getting so big! He has been pretty unlucky with weather on his birthdays in the past, but this year was finally a mild spring day. Meg planned a soccer-themed party, complete with table decorations, a cake, and a mini-soccer goal and blow-up balls. Zander plays soccer while he is at school [daycare], and right now it is his favorite sport. He is getting pretty good at kicking the ball (left-footed!), and it is a great activity for an energetic little boy! After Zander's party that morning, I got together with some of my girlfriends to celebrate Katie's and my birthdays. Our birthdays are two days apart, and we have celebrated together many times in the past while in high school and on into adulthood. Katie's little boy Grant is about 7 weeks old, and it was a sweet moment to blow out the candles with both of us holding our babies!

 A few other updates, we are continuing to practice eating from a spoon. Em is doing a great job with opening her mouth and swallowing. I can't take too much credit for the progress; Grammy is the one that has been working with Em each day that they are together. We are still using rice cereal for now, but we plan to introduce fruits and vegetables soon. She still makes funny faces as she moves the rice cereal around in her mouth, so I am curious to see her reaction to sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and carrots! Given the early struggles we had with nursing, I have been nervous about this next stage of eating, but Em seems to have caught on pretty quickly. We are noticing that she is filling out a bit, and it is almost time to move into size 2 diapers. We will probably make the switch in the next few days. Thanks to our wonderful friends and family, we have yet to buy any diapers. My stockpile goes all the way to size 4; what a blessing!

The week has included more jumping in her exersaucer, pants-less walks with Grammy [correction: pants for Grammy, but no pants for Em!], and scooting and rolling around during play time. For the first time this week, Em rolled onto her belly during nap time. I had just put Em in her crib, and I was surprised to look at the monitor and see her on her tummy. Since I usually put her down when she is still somewhat awake, I suppose it was her way of telling me that she wasn't quite ready to nap. Just like a turtle turned on its shell, she didn't seem to know what to do. I quietly snuck back in to her room and gently turned her over; I snuck back out again before she could figure out what had happened. I haven't caught her actually sleeping on her belly yet; her favorite pose is on her back with one hand resting up by her face. She looks so precious while she is sleeping. As I write this, she has been asleep for about 30 minutes. Daddy is at school this evening for baseball, softball, and soccer games, and hopefully he will be home soon. I also had a later evening after an event we had on campus today for high school juniors. It has been a busy week, so I am hoping that we all catch some zzz's this weekend! 

Spring Break and Birthdays

The past two weeks have been full of fun Spring Break activities. Although I did not have the time off, Emmy enjoyed first the Spring Break of Aunt Megan and then the Spring Break of Daddy. Luckily, the two school systems had the same Spring Break last year, and that is when we went to Disney! This year, the two weeks fell on opposite sides of Easter. During Aunt M's Spring Break, she planned a lot of fun activities for the boys, and she included Em and Grammy in their trip to the Science Center. For quite some time (well, since November!), my mom was on a mission to find car seats that would fit in the back of her Camry; she wanted to be able to transport all three grandchildren at the same time. Luckily, she found just the right size for Zander's booster seat, and within an inch, she got her wish: all three kiddos piled in the back of Grammy's car! What a cute picture it makes! With Emmy in the middle, her two cousins on each side keep her laughing and giggling for most of the ride; that is, until she inevitably falls asleep. Since the Science Center is in Greensboro, it worked out perfectly for them to meet me during my lunch break. I enjoyed having an hour of 'Spring Break' with them!

The University was closed on Good Friday, so I did have this day off with all the Spring Breakers. After a 10-mile run for Meg and me (whew!), we continued the annual tradition of dying Easter eggs. It was Em's first time participating, and she enjoyed swinging and kicking around while Zander did all the hard work. Maddox attempted a few eggs, but after a minor mishap with the green mug, we let Zander finish the rest. It was a fun cousin activity! Aunt M got Emmy her very first Easter basket with her name on it, which will be perfect for Easter egg hunts in the future. This year, it made for a pretty table decoration along with the birthday flowers I received from Boomer. But I won't skip ahead to Easter yet, because on the Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter, we had a fun-filled day. First, we tried food for the first time. Well, I'm not sure if we should really call it 'food' -- rather, I should say we tried a spoon for the first time. We mixed some rice cereal with breastmilk and kept the consistency pretty thin. After a few confused, funny faces and a few small spills, Em started to get the hang of it. She would start to open her mouth when the spoon came towards her. While we are certainly not ready for a full course meal, she is learning how to swallow and take food from a spoon. Grammy has continued to work with her this week, and she sends videos that show how quickly Em is improving. We will soon move from the rice cereal to other things like fruits and vegetables. I've been told to be prepared for changes in her diaper, so I am a little nervous! Even so, I know she can't survive on only milk forever. It's hard to believe how quickly each new stage is coming. Even just seeing those bendy baby spoons in the kitchen drawer with our other utensils is a reminder that our little girl is growing and changing.

 After experimenting with the rice cereal, we spent some time outdoors at the Wake vs. Notre Dame baseball game. It was a 4:00PM game, so after Em woke from her afternoon nap (all that eating is tiring!), we headed to the ballpark. The weather was perfect, and Em was entertained for several innings with all the sights and sounds. I tested out my Ergo carrier for the first time, and it worked well for the walk to and from the car. It also came in handy when Em got a little fussy during the 5th inning. I walked around in the concessions area until she fell asleep. We were able to watch a little more of the game, but by the 6th inning (and after I sneezed!), Em was awake and ready to go home. We kept to Em's bedtime of 7:30PM, and Daddy was content with listening to the end of the game on the radio. Luckily, Wake won -- Go Deacs! (Oh, and there was free admission for fans that wore pink, which explains why Boomer is matching his girls!)

 Easter Sunday was a special day as we celebrated Christ's resurrection and also my 31st birthday. My birthday has fallen on Easter two other times in the past. It is a neat coincidence to have two occasions on the same day. I loved starting the day with my family all on the same row at church. After the church service, just our little family of 3 made a spontaneous trip back to Winston-Salem for a picnic on Wake's campus. The weather was just perfect -- sunny, mid-70s. After we ate, we [squeezed onto a small blanket and] played with Em while she kicked around. Since she was born in the late fall, she is just starting to spend time outdoors, and I think she likes the fresh air. She also seems to like Wake! We captured several smiles while she jibber-jabbered and played in the grass. After our picnic, we headed home for naps for both Kennedy girls. Then, we met back up with my family for dinner at East Coast Wings. Em enjoyed being passed around and also tugging on Grandpa's beard. All three of the April birthdays (Grammy, Zander, and me) blew out the candles on a homemade cheesecake, courtesy of Grammy. Even at 31, I'm still spoiled with my choice of birthday dessert!

Just to re-cap, we tried a spoon for the first time, Mommy turned a year older, and Em went to her first baseball game! And if that's not enough for one week, Grammy captured a good shot of the two teeth that are starting to poke through on the bottom row, and one more milestone: Em wore shoes for the first time! Check out her sweet kicks!

A Handful of Months!

Has it really been another 30 days? It seems like just a blink and here we are, celebrating another month-iversary! While every month has brought so many special memories, I think this stage may be my favorite. Em is developing such a sweet personality. She enjoys interacting with people, both ones she knows and ones she doesn't. She hasn't shown any obvious attachments yet; she will generally comply to being held by just about anyone. Although she doesn't mind strangers, she does recognize those who are familiar to her. She will follow voices around the room and move around so she can keep an eye on things. Just like in the other months, she still loves kicking around under her rainforest play mat, although she doesn't stay in one spot for long. She will usually rotate around in a complete circle, chasing the toys that hang from the arches or looking over her shoulder to check out her surroundings. She is a very curious little girl. She is becoming more and more mobile each day. She continues to flip over from back to front and front to back. When placed on her back, she will flip over onto her tummy. After a minute or two, she will tire of being on her stomach and cry out to be flipped back over; it's as if she has forgotten that she already knows how to flip onto her back. Her cries are usually squawks; she also has developed a funny raptor-like sound that makes us laugh. Em has discovered her hands and feet. When we put her down for the night in her crib, Boomer and I will watch her on the monitor as she looks at her hands and wiggles her fingers in front of her face. She also likes to play with her [little bit of] hair and tug on her ears. I love watching her discover new things, whether its a body part or a new toy. She has one tooth poking through in the bottom row. Boomer is the one that discovered it just a few days ago. It confirmed my suspicions that she was teething. To relieve the pain, she often chews on her fingers, blankets, or toys. She also has been more slobbery; she loves to blow raspberries and spit bubbles. Our long and lean 5-month old loves to dance and jump in Daddy's arms, whether on the changing table in the morning or on Daddy's lap in his recliner in the evenings.  

As for dislikes, she doesn't have many. Burping is probably the biggest! It is impossible to stop her mid-feeding to coax out a burp. She throws a bit of a tantrum -- arching her back, crying, squirming -- until you lower her back into the feeding position. Being a worried new mom, I asked the doctor at our 4-month appointment if her 'resistance to burping' was a cause for concern, and he said no; some babies prefer to have the whole feeding before being burped. This is definitely Em! I suppose the only other dislike is staying up late. Em likes her routine of going to bed between 7PM and 8PM. We generally plan any dinners or evening get-togethers for 5PM or 5:30PM, so that we can be back home around 7PM for the nighttime routine. 

Our monthly photo shoots are usually in the morning before I go to work. Around 7AM, just after Grammy comes over, we set up in the rocking recliner that is in Em's nursery. With a full belly and a dry diaper, Em is all smiles to start the day! :)

April 10th was a special day, because not only did Em turn 5 months old, but Grammy turned 732 months old! (That's 61!) There are a lot of April birthdays, and Grammy is the first one in the bunch. Here is a picture of the two of them!

Emerson's Dedication

This post is in some ways a continuation of my last post about special occasions. On Sunday, we marked perhaps the most special of occasions in Emerson's life so far -- we participated in our church's baby dedication. Our church holds only a few baby dedication services each year. While it is not an individual ceremony, Pastor Rob makes it special by praying over each child and reading a little excerpt about the child. The service happened to be scheduled for the Sunday following Emily and Daniel's wedding and UNCG's open house; it was a busy weekend to say the least. However, we wanted to make this outward expression of our commitment to raising Emerson in a Christ-honoring home. It is such a precious gift to know that God uniquely chose Boomer and me as Emerson's parents. What an awesome privilege! On Sunday, we acknowledged this responsibility and commit to raising her in the Word. We also are calling on our church body to help us with this task. After church, we had brunch at our house with my mom and dad, Meg, Zack, Zander, Maddox, Sarah, Josh, Luke, Laurel, Coley, and Caroline. It was so sweet to see Em passed around between all these people that love her so much.

A very special part of the dedication was dressing Emerson in the same gown that I wore 30 years ago for my own dedication. For such a white, delicate fabric, it was surprisingly in good shape! No sign of the bonnet from these photos, so we opted for a bow, but I am thankful that my mom stored the gown for all these years. Perhaps you can see some resemblance? After unearthing the photos from my own dedication, my mom was on a hunt to find even more photos that show the similarities between Em and me. After my mom posted these photos online, my cousin Kristin put together the side-by-side comparison in the last photo -- even I have to admit, there's no denying she is my daughter!

P.S. If you look closely at the photo of Megan and me, it looks like a slightly grainy, 80s version of Emerson and Zander! :)

Special Occasions

The past week brought several special occasions. Last Saturday (April 1st) Boomer and I went to our eleventh prom together. Being a high school educator means attending many proms (and graduations, too!) Our first proms together were at Glenn and Parkland when we were both teaching. Then we continued our prom-going when Boomer was an assistant principal at South Stokes and now as a principal at Forbush. It's safe to say we have gone to more proms than the average couple. Proms may vary slightly school to school, but they tend to have the same magical quality of students dressing up, a fun theme, and the professional portraits. I always enjoy seeing the dress styles and the type of music the DJ plays. Boomer isn't always so excited to go to prom, but the promise of a nice dinner beforehand is enough to get him out the door. This year, Boomer made reservations at one of our favorite restaurants -- 4th Street Filling Station. We enjoyed a nice date night before heading over to Bermuda Run Country Club for his chaperoning shift. It wasn't too late of an evening; we were back home just before 10PM. While I couldn't get him out on the dance floor, I did talk him into a few photos from the photo booth. Perhaps we blended in as high school students again! :)

We also dressed up for church the next day, with Em in tights and a cute floral dress. During the sermon, she feel asleep on my chest, and it was the best feeling to have her snuggled up on me. After a week of being at work, I really cherish the time on the weekends with her.

After church, we made the short drive to Asheboro to meet our new niece, Ellison Rae. Ellison was born on Monday, March 27th, and we saw her just before she turned a week old. It is hard to remember that Emerson was once that size! It was strange holding a newborn again, so fragile and small, remembering to support the head. Em seemed so big when we held the girls side-by-side! Hopefully these two cousins will become great buddies in the years ahead! 

On Saturday, we found ourselves back at Bermuda Run, but not for a school function, but for a wedding! As I write this, we just wrapped up a fun weekend of celebrating the wedding of Emily and Daniel. There was a barbecue on Thursday night, then the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, and the wedding on Saturday. The pictures tell the story: the rehearsal dinner was a date night for Boomer and me; then at the wedding, Em started out in the ceremony (a beautiful outdoor venue overlooking the golf course and a lake) but then had a time-out with Daddy for a bit when she started to get talkative. She took a nap with Aunt M during the cocktail hour, we snapped a quick family photo, and then Boomer headed home while I ended the evening with dancing and photos with the girls. Emily was a beautiful bride, and she and Daniel are off on their honeymoon now.   

 

Here are a few more pictures from the week: Em testing out the exer-saucer for the first time and then a sneaky smile in the car seat (just before a blowout!)