heppy valentimes...

after a great weekend, emme's first valentine's day was yesterday.  friday night, we hung out at home and justin and i watched a serious man (coen brothers movie nominated for an academy award last year) after the little monkey went to bed.  it was kind of depressing, but well done.  saturday morning, we woke up and headed over to vincent's house to take his 3-month portraits.  both babies were soooo well behaved.  vincent was a champion and stayed awake for hours modeling.  he was super cute and i think the pictures are going to turn out really good.  emme napped off and on and just watched the activity - she didn't even get jealous of all the attention vincent was getting.

saturday afternoon, justin played golf and my friend ashley came over.  she and emme and i went for a little stroll and ate a late lunch outside because the weather was lovely (finally!).  when dad got home, we grabbed some dinner and then got the young miss to bed.  bath time has always been a favorite time of emme's, but it's getting even more fun as now she loves to kick and splash in the water.

sunday was lovely.  we woke up and did a few things around the house, then e and i went to baby yoga and it was a great class.  we sang songs and did lots of exercises and emme got to babble at all the other babies.  camo and alison were there, too, so we got to see how camo has found her feet and it's absolutely precious.  after yoga, emme took a 2 and a half hour nap while alison and i ate a late lunch and all the way home.  once she woke up, we took the dogs to the park for a long walk.  emme loves being outside and could stare for hours at the contrast of the tree branches on the bright sky.  she capped off the weekend by sleeping 11 straight hours sunday night - i was astounded when the alarm woke me up before she did!

and then there was valentine's day.  emme got 4 valentines this year - one from gg (great grandmother), one from jj & kk, one from gram marilyn, and some flowers from vincent.  these two babies are too cute with each other.  we took a nice walk in the early evening and then justin and i had an awesome dinner after she went down for the night.  we've gotten in the habit of cooking for valentine's day instead of battling the crowds and the overpriced menus at restaurants.  justin sauteed scallops as an appetizer and then grilled filet mignon and lobster tail.  i made fresh brussels sprouts steamed and then sauteed with shallots - my favorite way to prepare them.  it was quite a nice feast, and fun to reflect that last valentine's day we didn't even know i was pregnant and i was still in school - crazy!

Emme's 3 month video

miss emmeline, you are so fine. you are smiling and rolling over and making baby noises and smiling and putting everything you can find in your mouth and hanging out with your nanny while we're at work and smiling and pooping and smiling. i'm expecting you to make the giggles any day now. in fact, your mommy and i have money on when it's going to go down. i still think you're the cutest baby i've seen in 10,000 years... but i may be a bit biased.

the fourth trimester.

little miss.  i read somewhere once that the first 13 weeks of a baby's life are like the fourth trimester - humans developed so that our heads are too big to stay in utero for that extra time, but the amount of action that happens in that first three months is akin to a trimester of pregnancy, developmentally.  if that's true, then welcome to a whole new world in your fourth month!

we are really having a swell time with you.  i know i say it all the time, but you are just so easy and fun!  you continue to sleep anywhere from 6-10 consecutive hours at night, you eat well (about every 2 hours or so during the day), and you are super smiley.  you seem very curious about everything now - you're noticing the dogs, you turn your head at any and every noise, and you're very distractible while you're eating, wanting to know what's going on everywhere.  you're kind of a cat napper, but you can crash hard when you're tired.  my favorite thing is your ability to sleep anywhere....all the sleep training books say that i should have you in your crib every time you sleep, but i think it's good that you feel comfortable enough to relax and pass out whenever you're sleepy.  you're still rolling tummy to back, but you don't mind tummy time nearly as much these days and will spend several minutes hanging out on your belly before rocking yourself over.  you very rarely cry, which is good because your cry is so pitiful and it just about breaks my heart.

last night was your first superbowl party and you represented in your saints onesie since you know who the real champions are.  you coo and make noises all the time...one of your noises sounds like you might be trying to laugh.  liga said you laughed the other day, but i'm not sure if we can mark it down since it's not validated by one of your parents....your daddy is very interested in hearing you laugh soon, as he dearly loves an audience for his antics.  oh, you also are grabbing everything within reach these days.  sometimes you just sit in your bouncy and seem determined to shovel every single toy into your mouth at once.  it's hilarious.

you still spit up like a wild animal (pictorial proof below), but now that i don't get so worked up and worried about it, i actually find it kind of amusing.  when i'm at work, i hardly feel like myself since i don't smell faintly like spit up.  haha.  despite the constant backflow of your meals, you are gaining weight splendidly and weighed 13 pounds when i weighed you yesterday!  you are also super happy after most meals, so i think your status as a happy spitter remains.

i am so excited to see what changes and developments this month has in store.  you are a delight, my little darling.

what's with today, today?

we awoke this morning at a little after 5 a.m. to the idyllic setting of 3ish inches of snow blanketing our yard and neighborhood.  beautiful.  emme woke us up, but that was about 9 hours after she went down, so it was super peaceful to nurse her in our warm bed in the quiet pre-dawn glow.  

at 5:22, liga called to say the roads were icy and snowy and she was worried about taking the bus to our house.  i was secretly hoping for the snow so i could have a day home with emme, kinda like old times....i know liga would have come up if i'd asked her to (on time or late or whenever i wanted her), but since she was a little worried about it, i didn't want to ask her to make the long trek.  justin's boss told everyone to work from home, so the three of us (and the pets) have been hunkered down inside all day.  love that.  

our pipes are still on lock down, but our neighbor across the street is out of town until next week and she said we could use her shower and laundry facilities - thank god!  

we bundled up emme to take her outside to see her first snow this morning.  she was enthralled with the bright whiteness all around.  the dogs were elated - etta promptly began trying to eat all of the snow and ollie morphed back into full-on wolf dog mode.  

there is still a significant amount of mayhem over here, even though it is pretty.  emme had a phenomenal blowout in her pjs this morning.  we have no water, so i got to use about 1900 wipes to make sure she was cleaned up enough (don't even ask me about the greasiness of her hair).  etta decided it was a great idea to puke in her crate after eating 9 pounds of snow and grass.  emme has spit up on me as much as usual, which is more of a problem because of the inconvenience of showering across the street (and the lack of clean sweat pants, which are the only acceptable form of pants when it's cold and you're at home).  i keep telling justin our house stinks (which it doesn't, really, but it doesn't smell clean either) and i think it may be starting to annoy him....oh, and we have been trying to turn the water supply off.  the meter is at the street, so we went there to see if the line was there as well.  there are about 4 inches of dirt in the meter (which makes me wonder how they're doing our water reading every month, but i digress), which was super fun for jb to dig into to find the lever.  he found a lever, but it doesn't budge.  so, i guess the plan now is to just hope our pipes aren't busted when they eventually thaw.  we saw two drips out of the faucets in the bathroom and the tub, so hopefully that is a good sign.  

there have been some good photo and video opps lately....enjoy.  

cold war 2011

austin is in a freezing tumult this week.  it was 78 degrees outside on monday, and by tuesday night we were down to 18 degrees.  i totally realize that normal cities (read: north of here) get 18 degree weather and it doesn't send the entire universe of the city and its populous into a tailspin.  but a tailspin is exactly what happens here - or at least that is what our lives have been topsy turvy this week.

we woke up wednesday morning (was that only yesterday?  yeesh.), after having left our faucets on with a drip the whole night, to the grim reality that despite all normal precautions being taken (short of insulating our pipes, which wasn't going to happen), our pipes were frozen.  we aren't sure if they are busted yet or not, as they are still frozen.  for lack of better adjectives, it sucks.  to make matters worse, it is likely that temps won't creep above freezing until saturday or sunday, so we will have been without running water for 5 days.  that is a lot of days when you have a 3 month-old living in your house.  it's also a lot of days when it's 18 degrees outside and all you want to do is be in your house and your kitchen, making yourself feel warm and toasty and comforted.

somehow, water is necessary for all things in life.  jb went to heb on the way home from work last night and picked up 2 gallons of water.  they were gone by this morning, and no showers were taken, nor were dishes washed.  it's crazy.  add to this fact that our nanny and our baby are home all day while we're at work.  and the fact that i normally do 2-3 loads of laundry in a day.  and 1-2 loads of dishes.  our house is not a pretty picture right now.

i am trying to look at the comedy of this scenario.  i still don't know where my winter coat is (it's in a box somewhere from before i was pregnant), so i am wearing a 3/4 sleeve spring coat when i have to go out.  have i mentioned that i have not lost all the baby weight yet?  apparently i did not inherit the magical metabolism many others have post-baby (even with exclusively breastfeeding), so my spring coat does not quite button around the 10 pounds that insist on lingering well past their welcome.  i actually find the fact that i'm wearing a non-warm coat unbuttoned to be hilarious.  additionally, we have been saving this gift card we got a couple months ago for a delivery meal for just a night such as this.  i ordered the delicious indian cuisine, we waited close to an hour and a half for it to get here (long story), and my meal was wrong (chicken tikka instead of chicken tikka masala - just one word off....).  so justin, eager to please and intolerant of not getting what we paid for, just scurried off to the indian place to pick up my masala.  there is humor in this, i'm sure of it.  maybe we will have a chuckle as we enjoy our dinner....at least we don't have to do the dishes!

finally, even the chickens are mad about the cold.  one of them laid this egg yesterday....

and finally finally, emme is great.  we've all made it (almost) through my first week back at work, albeit a bit more chaotically than we expected.  here's a quick shot of the little miss sitting in her bumbo today.

first day back.

we made it.  the first day is the hardest, i think, and the anticipation of the first day was harder than anything else.  emme did amazingly well, as i knew she would.  and i didn't fare so badly myself - i knew it would be harder on me than on her.

a huge contributor to my holding it together was all the support i received from family and friends.  so many people sent emails, texts, and chats checking on me and offering support and solidarity.  i am astounded once again by the thoughtfulness and awesomeness of the people i know.

my amazing husband, to whom i give credit all too infrequently, was a rock yesterday.  he surprised me over the lunch hour at work with flowers and pepperidge farm cookies.  he always knows the best way to brighten up a not-so-sunny situation.

liga, the nanny, texted me a few times throughout the day letting me know that emme didn't cry once and was all smiles and good naps (and only a modest amount of spit up!!).  i'm so proud of my girl.  she was happy to see us when we got home last night and even though she had one of her most eventful nights in a while (up FOUR times), she seemed ready to play and happy to see liga this morning.  i love that child.

so now we commence the creation of the new routine, the new reality.  even though vincent (the other baby in our nanny share) starts officially next week, he came by for a little while today while his mom went to a meeting at her job.  liga sent this picture of those littles holding hands and i can tell this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

a cold front came in the middle of the night (e and i were both up to see it blowing in), so we will all be bundling up and hunkering down in our little house, waiting for the promise of sunnier days this weekend....

the last day.

dear emme,

tomorrow morning, i head back to work without you.  we have worked out child care so a really sweet woman named liga will be coming to the house to take care of you.  she is from latvia and she calls you "my friend" and you smile a lot at her.  next week, your buddy vincent from yoga will also join you and liga here on mondays, tuesdays, and wednesdays, and i think that will be loads of fun.  i feel much better knowing that you will be in your house surrounded by familiar things.

i know that you will be just fine.  and even though i feel like my heart is being wrenched out of my body, i know that i will be just fine too.

i don't know if there will ever be a way i can adequately explain to you what the past twelve weeks have meant to me.  every day, you have brought me more joy than i thought it was possible to experience.  even though i will be at work, i know this joy will continue....it just won't be the concentrated joy brought by the pair of us together all day, every day.  i have loved changing your every diaper, seeing you wake from every nap, feeding you every single meal.  i have loved watching you learn and discover new things, reading you books, and being completely in tune with your every smile, grimace, need, and want.  i know that we will still have all of these things.  of course we will.  it will just be different.

you are infinitely more amazing than i ever dared to dream my child could be.  thank you so much for sharing in this time with me and giving me the best 12 weeks of my life.  things are changing now, but i know you will teach me to accept our new situation with grace.  our time apart will make our time together that much more special.  it will be hard for me, leaving my heart at home while i re-assimilate to the professional world, but i know you will take good care of it.

i love you my little bunny.

mom's videography...

this is not the best videography attempt, since i was using my phone and it ran out of space before we were totally done filming.  but, it does the job!  emmeline has rolled tummy to back three or four more times today, so i captured it....

rolling rolling rolling....

today, emme rolled over.  it was amazing - i think it surprised her even more than it surprised me!  we went to a movie at alamo drafthouse with our friends alison and cameron this morning.  we saw black swan for baby day (this theatre normally doesn't allow anyone below 18, but they have showings for folks with kiddos on tuesday mornings).  it was quite intense and really well acted and emmeline crashed on me the entire time.  she was so sweet and i love all of our time cuddling.

anyway...we came back to our house and the babies were having play time on the floor.  emme has been getting mad at tummy time on occasion and today was one of those occasions.  i put her down on her belly and she wiggled for a second and then just launched herself over onto her back.  it made her stop crying in surprise - it was so cute.

she has yet to have a repeat performance, but i will persist with the tummy time and we shall see.  for now, though, i'm marking january 25 as the first tummy to back roll...
(i know the hand holding picture is kinda blurry, but these two girls are just so cute i had to post it....)

what emme sees

the video is a bunch of stills i pulled into fcp for a quick test video. larger project coming soon hopefully. this is my first attempt at this technique. it was also emme's idea.

hello world from Justin Browne on Vimeo.

spaghetti and meatball casserole.

i know 98% of our posts are about the young miss, but i swear there are a few other things that go on in our lives (not really, but we can pretend...).  one of those things is eating, and tonight i made something pretty tasty that i think is worth sharing.  the recipe is from clean eating magazine, but i made a few adjustments (we had delicious pesto ready-made from my mother in-law so i didn't have to make it from scratch; and i used ground turkey, but the recipe calls for lean ground beef).  anyway...it's healthy and, according to the magazine, contains manganese which is an often overlooked mineral.  supposedly, there are about 275 calories per serving of this stuff, though maybe a little more since i am not sure how the pre-made pesto compares to theirs, calorically.

ingredients:
- cooking spray
- 1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti (8 oz package)
- pesto (about 4 tbsp i think)
- 1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese
- 1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
- 1 tbsp wheat germ
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1/2 cup finely diced purple onion
- 2.5 cups (one big can) crushed tomatoes

preheat oven to 400.  spray casserole dish with non-stick spray.  cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain.  in food processor, blend a little over half of pesto with cottage cheese.  in separate bowl, mix ground meat with remaining pesto, wheat germ, and milk.  form into small meatballs (you want them about bite-size).  add onion and meatballs to a heavy skillet to brown.  once cooked, reduce heat and add tomatoes.  i also added some salt and pepper to taste.  simmer until sauce begins to thicken - about 8 minutes or so.  mix noodles in with sauce and meatballs.  put down first layer in casserole dish, then dot that layer with the pesto stuff.  add the remaining pasta, then dot the remaining pesto stuff on top.  pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes, then serve sprinkled with parmesan, if desired.  tasty tasty!

*i should also add that i didn't have wheat germ, so i made my meatballs with just pesto and ground turkey and salt (no milk or germ) and they were still moist and delicious.

11 weeks.

emmeline will be 11 weeks old in a couple hours - celebrate. i've been leaving most of the blogging responsibilities up to mommy and figured it was high-time i contributed something profound to the intraweb blogosphere... so here goes. i responded to a craigslist posting (never a good idea really) for a company looking for a photographer to do a product shoot on the cheap. i'm in the process of building out my portfolio and figured why not. the company sells workout clothes for meat heads. not like normal clothes - i'm talking about strange booty shorts for ladies and tight shirts for the mens. these are the kind of shirts that look like they would cut off circulation to every part of the body. they're supposedly rolling out a ton of new stuff and sent me about 9 items they needed shot against a white background. so i jumped in the fo', hit the juice in my ride, and went to the local camera store for some quality lighting equipment. by local camera store i mean home depot... and by quality lighting equipment i mean energy efficient LEDs. picked up some sweet foam board from hobby lobby at half off and set up a mini studio in our living room. while everything was set up, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to snap some shots of emme (babies really love bright lights). so here are a few of the pics i took of this child.

the first book and 10 weeks tomorrow...

2010 started out rather slowly on the blogging front - i was really just getting the hang of it and deciding if this was a medium i wanted to invest some time and energy into.  but after getting pregnant, i found it to be a perfect way to document what was going on in our lives.  this blog has been, in some ways, inspired by the blogs of my cousins who have been faithfully documenting the lives of their families for years now.  last year, my cousin lindsay wrote about her blog books and showed pictures of what they looked like and i am so excited that this year i got to make our very own - hopefully the first of many.

anyway...the book can be made at blurb.com - essentially, you "slurp" your blog into their awesome templates and then you can edit and tweak and format to your little heart's content and then get it printed.  i opted for the softcover 7"x7" book - i love the handheld size, and i always end up ripping the cover of any hard back book with a dust jacket.  it finally came in the mail this week and i swear i have never been more pleased with what $35 can buy.  it also makes me want to write more and more and post more pictures for our 2011 book.

in other news, things are still going great with emme kay.  she is starting to figure out her fingers and likes to stick them in her mouth.  the beanie is still the soother of choice, but i am hoping that she starts liking her fingers/thumb enough to sooth herself that way when the beanie falls out (i.e. nighttime and nap time).  she had a phenomenal week of sleep this week - 2 10-hour nights, a 9-hour night, and only one wake-up the other nights.  i haven't weighed her in a few days, but she was just over 12 pounds the last time i did.  our pediatrician said 12 pounds was a kind of magical threshold where little ones can sleep the whole night long, so maybe that's why she has suddenly become a champion sleeper?  whatever the reason, i am loving getting a full night's sleep.  a few more nights of this and i may have caught up from the first two months....

stuff emme is into right now:
- baby yoga
- dance time, ideally in the moby or bjorn
- anyone singing/dancing for her
- bath time (we have solved the crying post-bath issue and now it's just fun for all)
- mirroring faces

every morning when she wakes up, daddy goes and gets her out of her crib, changes her, and brings her into our bed.  i nurse her and then lay her on her back between the two of us for what we like to call morning exercise.  she is crazy smiley and kicks her legs like a maniac (i like to call it riding her bike).  she can also be really pensive, depending on what kinds of toys we dangle or faces we make at her.  this morning, justin snapped a few shots of her expressions.

finally, i have been meaning to share that jb has been putting effort into getting some photography gigs and it's going well so far.  he created a website: www.jtbvisuals.com and has done a couple of little jobs (second camera for a wedding videographer; merchandise stills for a fitness company) this weekend, and we hope it's a sign of fun and exciting work to come!

10 hours.

yep, that's right.  i said 10 hours.  that is the number of hours, in a row, that emmeline slept last night.  it was amazing.  i am in love with this child.

it's been wicked cold in austin this week.  an arctic front is making 30-40 degree weather feel much much colder than that, and our uninsulated, 1940s house is chilly and drafty.  because of that, we haven't given the little miss a bath in the last two days (the bathroom is colder than the other rooms, even with a space heater).  we have, of course, wiped her down and cleaned her, but our evening routine is slightly off.  despite that, though, she has been a rock star sleeper for several nights in a row.  and last night topped it off with a stretch from 9 to 7.  needless to say, we all feel pretty amazing today.

other than that, this week has brought nothing super eventful.  emme has been spitting up a lot, as usual, but is as happy as ever.  yesterday, she and i went to post-natal yoga (also known as baby yoga).  it's one of the highlights of our week and she loves staring at all the other babies.  yesterday she was making eyes at a 5 month old boy named noah - justin said she needs to stop that.  she also got hungry in the middle of class, so i nursed her a little to get her to calm down.  when she was done, we were working on baby dolphin pose which involves propping them on their tummies on your elevated knees.  the instructor warned that this pose might cause some spit up and boy oh boy was she right.  emme launched an assault all over my pants, mat, and soaked the 2 burp cloths and receiving blanket i'd brought with me.  hilarious.  i seriously couldn't do anything but laugh.  fortunately, i'd brought a change of clothes for her, but i normally have a full arsenal of gear in my diaper bag...of course, the day i need all that gear, i don't have it.

anyway...i'm loving every minute i'm spending with the little niblet.  these are just a few pictures i've taken in the past week.  she notices the camera now - she doesn't get that she's supposed to smile every time, but she does like to look at it.

emme's arrival: the video

this was a great, low-key weekend.  we took the dogs to the dog park on saturday before it started getting cold, watched some football, ate healthy food at home, and spent lots of time playing with emmeline.  saturday evening, justin gave her a bath for the first time (we usually tag team bath time, but i am the one that's responsible for the actual bathing).  it was the first time in a long time that she hasn't cried when coming out of the tub - awesome!  most of the time, she gets upset when i take her out and put her in her towel (i think maybe because it's jarring to go from nice warm bath into the air?  not sure...).  anyway, it was super cute to watch him give her a bath.  i tried not to be too bossy...

in addition to our other activities, justin also finished editing the first of what i'm sure will be many, many emme videos.  this is the footage leading up to and her arrival.


emmeline kay from Justin Browne on Vimeo.

2 months old.

this morning, you took a super long nap swaddled in your miracle blanket.  when you started stirring, i unwrapped you and you proceeded to throw your arms in the air in full victory pose (that's what your dad and i call it) and stretch yourself out like a cat.  then you gave me a huge grin.

you've also been doing this new thing where you talk to your animals (alison calls it talking to your animals and i think it's hilarious and totally appropriate).  your turtle mobile, the animals on your bouncy, the world at large...you seem pretty pleased with everything, from the sound of it.

i cannot possibly describe to you what a joy the past two months have been.  every day you surprise and delight me.

the good, the bad, and the best yet.

emmeline kay.  today was your 2 month appointment at the pediatrician (even though you will be officially 2 months tomorrow).  you geared up for the big appointment by sleeping for EIGHT whole hours in a row.  which means that i slept for almost that many.  unbelievable.  you fought going down a little bit (i think you might be quite the night owl when you grow up), but finally were asleep by about 10:30.  at 1:40 or so in the morning, i woke up and was curious as to what was going on since i hadn't heard from you yet.  i peeked in your room and made sure you were still breathing (what can i say, i am a little crazy), and you were super sound asleep.  i crawled back into my bed and didn't wake up again until the alarm went off at 6:30 (i was so sad about that - who knows how long you might have kept sleeping) because a contractor was coming to do some work on our house, and your doctor's appointment was at 8:15.

anyway...8 hours.  amazing.  i didn't think it was possible to love you any more, but i think i managed to squeeze out even more love since this was the first time i've really felt rested since you were born....

the appointment was really good.  you were so smiley and you cooed up a storm for me while we were in there.  the doctor was impressed with your sweet disposition and she said you're holding your head up in tummy time position at the level of a 4-month old.  so advanced - haha!  your stats are:

height: 22.75 inches (75th percentile)
weight: 11 lbs. 6 oz. (70th percentile)
head: 40 centimeters (73rd percentile)

so all in all, you are quite proportional and growing well and just about perfect, i think.  we talked about your spitting up again and dr. treybig called you a "happy spitter" and said i'll be able to tell if something changes with you, but otherwise to just keep doing what we're doing.

the end of the appointment brought your vaccinations, which was what i was dreading.  you were super brave and they let me nurse you while they stuck you, so that helped a little bit.  you still wailed a bit, but i think that was totally appropriate.  you got a hep b booster, the polio/meningitis vaccine, and dtap.  we got home and everything seemed to be going well - you took quite a nap - and then i think you realized the trauma that had occurred because you woke up crying and you cried off and on through cat naps before i decided baby tylenol was in order.  since you got the medicine, you seem to be feeling a little better, though you have really pretty much slept all day.  when you stir a little bit, i try to get you to nurse, but you're not even interested in food, so i am just letting you rest.  you had a little fever this afternoon, but it seems to have ebbed a little from the acetaminophen.  all in all, i think you're having a very normal reaction to everything, but i don't look forward to your next round at 4 months.

before you realized you were hurting, i did manage to capture a picture of you smiling.  you smile all the time, but i haven't been able to get it on camera (you are usually moving like a maniac when you smile, so all my pictures are blurry).  anyway...i think it's the best picture yet!

also, here's a picture that made me crack up.  i know it's blurry, but i cannot understand how you get this much air when you're playing in your bed...

and finally, here is a tummy time picture from yesterday.  you had spit up all over your shirt, so i stripped you down and let you hang out shirtless for a little while.  you loved it....

8 weeks old - the sleep situation.

it seems despite my best intentions, i can never actually post on the sunday that you turn another week older, emme kay.  this week was clearly no exception.

we spent the week recovering from christmas and our big trip to louisiana and trying to get our house/lives back in order.  it was a good week, even though we didn't accomplish everything we set out to (i'm sensing a new theme in our lives...).  you were awake a lot more this week and you continue to be such a joy.  you really are such a contented little girl - easy to entertain, easy to soothe, and a blast to watch grow and change every day.

i flipped out a little bit on wednesday because of your spitting up, so i took you to the doctor.  even though i knew you were fine and growing and not upset about it, sometimes you spit up what seems like a ton to me, and i was just a little worried.  that, and your 2 month appointment wasn't for another whole week, and we hadn't been to the doctor since your 2 week appointment!  anyway, you weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces, so you seem to be growing just fine.  the doctor also said that if you're not crying or fussy and you keep gaining weight, there is nothing to worry about and you don't have reflux disease.  yay!  i am just not supposed to wear nice clothes for the next 6 months.  haha.  of course, since the doctor's appointment, the spit up has not been nearly as bad (though definitely still present).

other than that, you are smiling and cooing like a champ and i am eating it up.  you are especially happy in the mornings and after naps/eating.  you love being read to and are starting to bat at some things here and there (though i am not positive if you're really batting or if it's just accidental flailing....).  you also really really love music - both our music and your music (the kid music that comes out of all your little toys).  you are very content in a front carrier and your dad and i are both eager to be the ones that get to carry you.  last night, dad won out and he wore you in the bjorn all around the grocery store.  you did amazingly well - you were awake and looking around at all the things to see the whole time!  you hold your head up so well now.  i put you on the floor for tummy time at least once a day and you rear up like a cobra and you can turn your head to both sides.  you have a relatively short attention span with that and usually start crying after a couple of minutes, but i am super proud of your hard work.  you still love your pacifier (beanie), but don't seem to be quite as obsessed with it, which is nice.  you're a great eater, of course.  you're also noticing the dogs more, which is cute.  i hope this is the start of a great relationship between you and your pets.

as far as sleeping, i am having a hard time figuring it out.  we have a bed time routine that consists of bath, massage, pjs, nursing, swaddling, book (and rocking chair), then bed.  i haven't been super anal about times, but everything happens usually between 7:30 and 9.  you usually have a pretty good stretch then - from 9ish until sometime in the 1 vicinity - and then you are up every 1.5-3 hours for the rest of the night.  since those are the hours that i would normally be sleeping, it's a little tough, but i feel confident we will figure it out.  i am just not sure why you can easily go 4 hours between meals during the day, but an hour and a half and you're ready to go in the wee hours.  you tend to fall asleep halfway through your normal consumption, so that may be why you're hungry again so soon, but i don't know what to do to keep you awake!

anyway...at the very least, you are in your crib (for nighttime, if not for every daytime nap) and you seem to like it there.  you know your bed time routine and you seem to like it.  you also have this seahorse toy that my childhood neighbor katy gave you over the holidays that you are in love with.  it plays soft classical music with bubble sounds in the background for 5 minutes and its belly glows.  you stare at it and your eyes get heavy - it's like baby hypnosis.

i love you little bunny - i can't believe 8 weeks have already passed.  i know you will continue to amaze and delight me over the next 8 weeks....

welcome to 2011.

wow.  here we are, beginning yet another year.  we have so many things going on and so many things to look forward to in this new year.  we rang in 2011 with several friends, good food, and emme sleeping in her crib for the first time ever!  i thought it was going to be this intense transition process, but she just went right down and is happy in there.

i love the freshness and optimism of january...i hope we can harness it and hold it all year long.

here are a few of the things we have on the 2011 horizon....

- rachel and chip's wedding in lafayette in march (it will be emmeline's first wedding and her first time seeing the lost bayou ramblers play)
- kim and mike's wedding in jamaica in april.  jb is the best man/photographer and my parents will be joining us in sunny jamaica to help take care of emme while wedding business is happening.  we actually got e's passport photos taken yesterday and they are hilarious.
- the hesterly/browne weight loss challenge.  my parents, jb, my brother, and i all threw some of our christmas money in a pot.  we have approximately 90 days and whoever has lost the most weight (as a percentage of body weight) by april 1 gets the cash.  i think we all over-indulged a bit over the holidays and i am really excited about cooking and eating healthy again....i, personally, have been overindulging since my last trimester....woops.
- the launch of justin's side business: jtb visuals.  more about that later.
- my 30th birthday.
- the birth of baby girl perque in april
- the birth of baby mccarthy in august
- several other friend/family babies joining the scene
- and who can even begin to guess what else??

there is much to look forward to and be thankful for.  can't wait.