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!