The biggest change in our lives has been B's move to Birmingham. He is doing a specialty residency in Oncology at UAB and will be there for 1 year. We have decided it would not be feasible for me to leave my job for 1 year and look for a new one, so I am still in Huntsville with Em while B and the dogs set up camp in Birmingham. My work schedule allows me 2 days on then 2-3 days off so I am able to go visit on my off time and B is able to come to Huntsville on his off time. In theory, this arrangement seems ok..in practice it's much worse. Due to the combination of my extreme dislike of driving, my weather related paranoia, and Alabama's stormy season in which the forecast every day calls for thunderstorms, my anxiety level about driving to Birmingham has been through the roof! So far, it has been difficult and I can only imagine it will remain that way. (2 weeks down...50 to go!!)
The last time I shared, it was quite apparent that it was a rough introduction to motherhood for me. And it was. In the future, if I could skip the newborn stage, I would. It's tough...but what I didn't know at that time was that there was so much love and excitement and pure joy that was waiting for me a few months down the road. Em is 6 months old and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I remember wishing she would grow up and now I'm wondering if it will ever slow down.
First, there was the excitement of her smiling at us when she was almost 2 months old....then laughing at daddy when she was almost 4 months old. Then we had our first mother's day and father's day. In June Emery went "swimming" for the first time, which was funny! (I'll try to post some pics and videos at the end) She started eating baby food at about 4 months which has been fun for me. Some moms may not like baby food because it's messy, or because it takes longer than the bottle, but I love it! Emery is such a good eater. She eats everything and she really isn't too messy most of the time. She does somehow get food (or something nasty) in her neck roll which is completely disgusting. I don't understand how it happens, but its gross. It was funny to watch her discover her feet...then her hands...and then try to shove her hands in her mouth. She has become a lot more exciting at playtime. She loves her exersaucer (and so do I, because then I don't have to tote her around everywhere!) and she loves to grab at everything....coffee cups, fingers, HAIR, jewelry, or anything else she can reach. She's developing quite the personality these days. A couple of weeks ago she started fake coughing. (and I'm not just being a bad mother, this really was fake coughing if I've ever heard it...ask anyone) If you stopped paying attention to her and started talking to someone else...fake cough. If you sat her in her high chair and went to the kitchen and weren't looking at her...fake cough. If you turned away from her...fake cough. As soon as you would start paying attention to her again the cough went away. It was just hilarious. This week, her new thing is shrieking. That's right, shrieking. Its a fun, playful shriek...but that doesn't matter. B and I took her out to eat with us to the California Pizza Kitchen and she would just babble away and all of the sudden shriek with excitement. This occurred about every 5 minutes. It was awesome! I'm not really sure that you can teach a baby not to do that, so I just let her do it. I guess this is the beginning of the parenting decisions that will determine her behaviors later... :)
Here are a few pics and videos of the last few months:
Emery laughing... (sorry the video is sideways but it was taken on the iphone and I can't get it to turn right side up)
Easter 2011- 11 weeks old
Mother's Day 2011- 3 months old
First time in the water- 16 weeks old
First time eating from a spoon....rice cereal- yuck! She didn't like cereal... and she was confused about why I was trying to feed it to her on a spoon so she just spit it out.
Father's Day 2011
Fist time trying sweet potatoes- YUM-O! She loved them :)
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