One of the Girls

Em and I made our first trip to Morganton this past weekend. Morganton will always be a special place because of the many years I spent there, the many friends I made, and the memories I have from growing up in this small town. My friend Emily, my very first friend when I moved to Morganton in the 1st Grade, is getting married in April, and on Sunday, there was a bridal tea in her honor. I was glad for the excuse to make the trip back to my hometown and also to see so many of my best friends. Originally the plan was for Emerson to stay in Kernersville with Boomer, but Boomer was feeling under the weather (in fact, all three Kennedys have been fighting colds this week!), so Em tagged along with my mom, sis, and me. As you can see in the pictures, she was one of the girls for the day!
  

In just a few hours, we were able to see Coley's new (old) house, celebrate a special bride, and catch up with my mom and sister during the time that we were in the car. Even though we all live in Kernersville, it seems we always have something to talk about. We still managed to talk the entire two hours there and back! It is neat to think that perhaps Sunday was the first of many girls' road trips with Em!

As I mentioned, the dreaded winter sickness hit the Kennedy household. Luckily, it has been nothing worse than the common cold -- congestion, cough, and sneezing. Em was the first to come down with it, and it broke this momma's heart to see her baby sick! She just wasn't her usual pleasant self, and one day, we even resorted to using the swing for the first time. (The swing is another gift from my sister, and I kept telling myself that I would pull it out when we needed it. Luckily, Em hasn't really been too fussy, and between the rainforest play mat, her monkey chair, or milk, usually we can keep her happy.) The swing did the trick when I [needed to take a shower] wasn't able to hold her. She still has a lingering cough, but I think she is almost over it. I feel lucky that we have not dealt with anything more serious during this winter. Another 'first' this week was switching from the swaddle to the sleep sack. It seemed that it was time to make the switch when I came in one morning to find her head at the opposite end of the crib! I talked with my mother-in-law, and the decision was made to retire the swaddle. I will miss seeing that little baby burrito on the video monitor, but I suppose it's just one of the many milestones of our newborn growing into a little girl! Even with colds and everyone's busy schedules, we were able to fit in seeing family this past week. We also spent our evenings in bed, in hopes of kicking these colds! (As I write this, Boomer and I are still a little sick, but we are thankful it is us, rather than Em!)

 

Daddy always keeps us laughing...although Em is not too entertained in this one! :)

I am not ashamed to admit that I am already taking way too many photos of my little cutie! When it's just the two of us throughout the week, I try to document our day for Daddy and send him pictures that will make him smile. Here are some of the photos from my Camera Roll this week:

Trial Run

Once again, I feel so grateful to have this time during my maternity leave. It has been nice to solely focus on being a mother, and I've enjoyed the openness of our schedule and the slower pace. Some days, Em and I may not even get out of our pjs! If we do have an outing planned, it usually only means being away from the house for a couple of hours. However, this past weekend was anything but slow. I feel like it was a trial run for when I start back to work, because in fact, I went in to work! On Friday, I went to campus for a few hours to prep for our beginning-of-the-semester Spartan Guide training. I brought Em with me to campus, because I knew a lot of my coworkers would want to see her. I also knew that it would keep me from staying tooo long. I've found that once I start working, it's hard to step away. I surprised myself though and stuck to our schedule. I also planned a break when I could pump. This is what it looks like bringing your baby to work!

 

 After putting in a few hours at the office, I met up with one of my old Spartan Guides, Caitlin. She graduated last year from UNCG's School of Nursing, and she now works in Greensboro at one of the hospitals. It was so good to see her and catch up on her post-grad life. She brought a gift for Em and for me. So thoughtful!

After leaving Greensboro, we went up to Forbush to again have a Friday night dinner date with Daddy before his sporting events. This week, we went to a different restaurant, Taste of Italy. We highly recommend the mac-n-cheese bites and their pizzas!

On Saturday, I cohosted a shower for my friend, Katie, who is due in early March. She is having a boy, and I am excited that our two little ones will be so close in age.

Morganton Girls - Me, Katie, Emily, Coley, & Carrie

On Sunday, it was back to UNCG for the training. The training brings all of the tour guides together, and we kick off the semester by playing some games and reviewing the tour route. After 2+ months, I enjoyed being back with the students, and it was a productive day. Working with them is one of my favorite responsibilities of my job.

 

While I was at the training and also while I was at Katie's baby shower on Saturday, Em stayed home with Daddy. They got in a lot of bonding time this weekend! On Sunday night, we went out to dinner with Coley who was in town for the shower. It was a nice way to wrap up the weekend.

I realize that the days of my maternity leave are winding down, and while I'm not quite ready to go back yet, the weekend was a good way of easing back in. For my remaining days, I intend to enjoy every smile, every cuddle, every bath until then. 

The Days are Short

Whoever said "The days are long, but the years are short" was not a mom nearing the end of her maternity leave! I think it would be more accurate to say: "The years are short, and the days are, too!" Now as we are on the downward slide of January, it seems as if the days are flying by. Sure, there have been some challenging moments, especially in the early weeks, when I was so ready for Boomer to come home, but most days now, it seems like before I know it, it's getting dark outside, and we are once again getting ready for bedtime. The passing of time became even more apparent this week when on Tuesday, my mom and I were organizing the nursery and packing up the newborn clothes. All the tinie-tiny onesies, the snuggly little sleepers, the outfit we brought Em home from the hospital in, 'First Thanksgiving' and 'First Christmas' clothes. As we replaced the newborn clothes with 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothes, it is hard to believe how big she is getting. I am trying to soak up every moment with my little girl.

Last weekend, there were basketball games at Forbush on Friday night, so Em and I picked Boomer up for an early dinner before the games got underway. We went to a local pizza place called Papa's in downtown Yadkinville. It was fun to see Daddy for a little bit in between the workday and his late evening. On Saturday, we went to Asheboro to watch our nephew Trivett and our niece Adelynn play in their rec league basketball game (their team won!). Then we made the rest of the drive to Star to stay the night with Boomer's parents. Em enjoyed the snuggles with Granny and Paw Paw. It was often a fight on who would hold her! :) With the MLK holiday, we had an extra day with Boomer at home on Monday. I feel like I blinked, and it's already Thursday! Here are some pictures from our week:

Going out for a date with Daddy (....Mommy tagged along!)

Visiting Great-Gma and Great-Gpa

Learning new tricks!

Falling asleep in Mommy's arms

Mommy & Baby Yoga!

Not pictured: a workout at the YMCA with Sarah, lunch with Katie (she's 32 weeks pregnant and due in March!), and a neighborhood walk with Meg and all our kiddos.

8 inches and 2 months

8 inches of snow and 2 months old! 

It has been a fun few days as we've enjoyed the NC winter weather and celebrated another monthly milestone. Last Friday, there was a lot of excitement and anticipation about a winter storm. The news stations projected anywhere from 1 inch to 1 foot of snow, and they got it right! We did in fact get a pretty good amount! It came in late Friday night and continued coming down until midday Saturday. While we rarely have a white Christmas in North Carolina, we do usually get some winter weather in January and February, and you can count on everything shutting down for a few days. I loved seeing all of the photos online of families building snowmen and going sledding. My nieces and nephews sure enjoyed playing in the white stuff. As for the Kennedys, we were nestled inside with our little girl. Boomer and I have the same feelings about snow -- while beautiful, it is best enjoyed from the warmth and comfort of the indoors. I am sure this will all change next winter when we have a more mobile, energetic toddler. At least this year, this is what our snow days looked like:

The snow kept us inside all of Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, school was closed for students and staff, so we enjoyed an extra day with Boomer at home. We finally ventured out that afternoon for a grocery store run and dinner.

On Tuesday, things started to thaw, and Boomer went back to work for a teacher workday. Tuesday also marked 2 months old for baby Em! I have heard so many parents say how fast the time goes by, and it truly has. I feel like I have learned so much about our little girl in the last two months. Our little 2-month-old loves looking at lights, playing under her rainforest, and spending time with Daddy watching West Wing. She is quite the daddy's girl and loves smiling at Daddy while he makes silly noises and funny faces. She prefers a bottle to nursing, but she is generally flexible with either method. She has definitely discovered her hand, although not quite her thumb yet. We are trying to discourage her from sucking her hand, but it seems we may be losing that battle! We have introduced a pacifier, but she has trouble keeping it in her mouth, so we haven't pushed it too much. Most importantly for Mommy, Em loves sleeping at night in her crib. She usually sleeps between 6 and 7 hours each night. After a feeding and a diaper change, she is content to sleep for another 1 to 2 hours. My favorite times with her are mid-morning and before bedtime. During these times, she is so alert and expressive, and I can coax a lot of great smiles from her. I am just waiting for that first laugh; I don't think it will be too long! Emerson is still wearing some newborn clothes, but she has mostly moved into 0-3 month clothing. In the last few days, I've noticed that the newborn clothes are stretched at the neck, so I think our girl is getting even longer. It looks like we will be retiring the newborn clothes pretty soon.

And here is one more photo as we were putting her to bed on her 2-month birthday. Boomer and I laugh how Em seems to look right at the camera if we put her to sleep while she is still awake! Luckily she'll usually fall asleep a few minutes later. 

Tomorrow, we go to the doctor for Em's 2-month check-up. I've been warned that she will get some shots at this appointment, and she will also be weighed. Given our early struggles with gaining weight, I am anxious to see what the scale says. By my own assessment, we have a healthy, precious little girl!


UPDATE 1/12/2017: We had an excellent visit at the doctor's today! Em measured 22.84" in length (a little above average) and 38.5 cm for her head circumference (right at the average). And [drum roll] she weighed exactly 10.0 pounds! We are so excited that she is in the double digits. Our pediatrician was very happy with her growth and her overall development. The visit ended with three vaccinations, but Em was a champ. There were some tears (both baby and mommy), but we recovered quickly. Em left with these cute pink band-aids as souvenirs, and hopefully we won't be back at the doctor's anytime soon!

 

A Day in the Life of Emerson

Now that the days of January are ticking by, my return to work has started to cross my mind more and more. It seems crazy to me that a lot of moms return to work after only six weeks. I think back to the six-week mark, and I was just barely getting the hang of things! I still have about four more weeks of maternity leave, and I am so glad for the extra time to spend with my little girl. I hope to always remember this special time that I have had at home with her.

With a newborn, there is a lot of unpredictability, but we are slowing developing a routine. We try to balance time at home for naps and feeding with shopping trips, play dates, and other outings. Most mornings start around 8AM. Well, back up just a bit....both Em and I have been up before that, around 4AM or 5AM, when I feed Em and also pump. Then, as Daddy is getting up for work, we both go back to sleep for a couple more hours before officially starting our day. After hearing her noises through the video monitor, I love going in to her room and getting her out of her crib. Some mornings, she may still be in-and-out of sleep; other mornings, she may already be awake and waiting on me. 

It always makes me laugh the way she springs out of her swaddle. She has the biggest yawns and stretches as she gets ready to take on the day. The mornings usually pass by quickly, with feeding, changing her diaper, getting her dressed, and having a bit of playtime. Em is becoming so expressive, and she has started to smile a lot. She seems to be in such a pleasant mood during this morning time. It is probably a bad habit, but I will bring her in my bed, and she will kick around and we will 'talk' for a little bit. Yesterday morning, I took this picture of Em, and it is one of my favorites so far! 

Here are a few more pictures from our morning 'girl time.'

If we have a play date or an errand to run, I usually try to plan it around 10AM. This seems to be a good time that coordinates with Em's feeding/nap schedule and my pumping schedule. (I am still nursing in the morning and in the evening, but during the day, I bottle-feed Em with the milk that I pump.) If we have somewhere to go, I load Em up in her car seat, and we hit the road. I have to be quick about getting out the door, because Em usually doesn't like being in her car seat if we are not moving. I did manage to capture a half-smile in this picture. 

This past week, we had a play date at Sarah's house one morning, a visit with my mom's friend Linda another morning, and on two days, we went to the YMCA. The Y has childcare in the mornings, so I managed to get us both there so that I could do a 30-45 minute workout on the elliptical. I am slowly getting back into my exercise routine. Other outings include going to the grocery store or visiting Great-Gma and Great-Gpa. 

In the afternoons, I try to knock out anything on my to-do list, like laundry, cleaning, mail, email, etc. Em is usually quite content hanging out in her monkey chair (our name for the sling passed down from Zander and Maddox). As long as I am close by, she likes to look around at the lights or just chill...

  ...until she falls asleep!

This is a 'live' picture; she is sleeping now as I write this post!

 

In between naps, we do some tummy time, either on a blanket or on the boppy. The first time we used the boppy for tummy time, she posed in the sweetest way: 

 If I could read her mind, I think she is saying, "Well, what I am suppose to do now?" After some tummy time, Em likes to kick around under her rainforest play mat. I predict she will be a very active little girl when she grows up. Her arms and legs will move constantly (much like they did when she was inside of me!), and she loves the lights and music. 

The highlight of the day is when Daddy comes home! Daddy immediately sweeps in to play with Em, whether under the rainforest or on his lap, sometimes while he is still in his shirt and tie! If he doesn't have any evening events, Boomer is usually home between 5PM and 6PM. We like these nights the best! After dinner and a little TV, we all get ready for bedtime. We usually put Em to bed between 9:30PM and 10:00PM. With a full belly and swaddled tightly, she will sleep for around a 6-hr stretch. We feel so lucky to have such a good sleeper. Just like the mornings, the evenings go by pretty fast. Before I know it, we are doing it all again the next day!