peek of the week {halloween}

I swear, I am doing crafty things! But this little person takes up most of my time these days...

Hubby's company invites employees to bring their children in to trick or treat at Halloween every year. We dressed Emma up as a cupcake and showed her off around his office. No candy, just baby!

She wasn't too thrilled about the costume. Shortly after the last photo was taken, she had a meltdown in the middle of the (quiet) office. Luckily, a bottle was the answer, but she still wasn't crazy about all the strangers fawning all over her. She cried in the car on the way home and then conked out. The lighting in this next photo is awful but I wanted to show off Daddy's Little Pumpkin!

I just realized all the photos show her with her pacifier. She does love that thing.

I'm linking up with Peek of the Week over at Happily Home Sewn!

emma {2 months}

My girl is 2 months old today!

Our little family is gradually settling into a routine. We're all getting more sleep and Hubby and I are figuring out what our new "normal" looks like.

I love her smile! It melts me every time.

At two months, Emma...
~makes lots of eye contact with us
~focuses on objects and follows them when they move
~coos and uses her voice (other than crying, although she does that too :) )
~is beginning to reach for things and people
~loves to snuggle with Mama and Daddy
~catnaps during the day but is sleeping longer stretches at night
~likes to look at the pictures in books
~likes to listen to us singing to her, and to music on the radio
~focuses on the tv when football is on :)
~loves to be wrapped in the Moby wrap when we're walking around a store

happy baby!

The last one is my favorite...

baby gator

I can't find my camera cord, and the battery inside is dead and can't be charged. Sad! :(

However, I did take a couple of pictures of Emma on Saturday before the battery died. I'm an alum of the University of Florida, so we are huge Gator fans at our house! (Hubby knows there's no choice in the matter, plus I root for the Red Sox to support him.)

Here's our newest Gator fan! Chomp chomp!

Touchdown!

handmade for baby

The ladies of my quilt guild got together and made a quilt for Emma! I absolutely adore it!

Everyone made a different block, and then they were put together with a gray gingham and bound in a darker gray. It is so beautiful! Thank you so much to Tara, Jane, Penny, Michelle, Patti, and Adrienne!

The love continues... Michelle designed and made this awesome quilt using Little Apples! I love her fussy cuts! Every time I look at the quilt I find another little picture I didn't see before.

And Penny made this great changing pad and pouch! How did you know I needed another one? Plus, it's hard to see because my photography skills are less than stellar, but the center and the back both have ostriches with hearts. I love it!

Emma says "Thank you very much!" And Mama thanks you all, too! I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. :)

(I put a burp cloth under her head because you never know when she's going to spit up. SO glad I did!)

And this is Emma getting mad because the photo shoot has tested the limits of her patience. :)

emma {4 weeks}

Wow, I can't believe our little one is 4 weeks old! The last month has been jam packed with equal parts of stress and joy... I won't bore you with the details (special thanks to N for being my victim there) but I'm so relieved August is over!

This is my favorite photo of Emma at 4 weeks old, taken on September 2nd. She's just waking up and stretching, and I absolutely love her expression!

I've got my eye on you, Mama!

Over the last four weeks, Emma is...
~discovering her hands... waving them around, and sucking on her fingers for comfort (and also when she's hungry!)
~opening her eyes wide and looking all around her world
~lifting and turning her head for brief periods when we hold her upright
~gaining weight (finally!)

are you interested?

WANTED: A patient soul who can get up at night with a hungry little monster at least 3 times.

Qualifications: Willing to part with sleep during nighttime hours. Needs good ears for hearing baby noises. And must be able to change a squirmy baby's diaper. Must be quiet so Mommy and Daddy can sleep!

Salary: My undying gratitude and devotion. Also, breakfast in the morning. If you're awake, that is. :)

in which daddy goes back to work

We were lucky that Hubby could take two weeks off work after Emma's birth. While he used vacation time to do it, the last two weeks have been as far from a vacation as he could get... he's cooked, cleaned, done laundry, catered to me as I recovered from the c-section, and been our chauffeur around town, too. Poor Daddy! I bet he's tired.

This morning was a little hard as he kissed us goodbye to go back to work. Now, it's just me and Baby at home. It's not the first time we've been alone, but it is the longest stretch. We spent our time napping, feeding, diapering, and then this afternoon we went to the doctor to make sure Emma's gaining weight, which she finally is! We've been to the pediatrician's office four times in the last two weeks. Crazy.

Do you see her cute little ducky feet? :)

hello, baby!

Emma Catherine

was born on Friday, August 5th, at 9:00 AM

Weight: 7 pounds, 3 ounces

Length: 18 3/4 inches



We spent four days in the hospital following my c-section. Baby Emma was breech from 36 weeks on, and didn't turn back to a head down position.

Here we are a few minutes after getting home from the hospital on Tuesday...

And here is our little cutie yesterday...

We are so blessed!

a tour of the nursery

Baby's nursery is ready to go! And just in the nick of time, too. I've always been a procrastinator. :)

Really, the room has been ready for a while, just chaotic and disorganized. It's a small space and Baby has so much stuff to pack in there! We started in March by painting and ordering the furniture. Slowy but surely, I've been finishing projects for the room, like the wreath, the crocheted throw, a mini quilt, and a toy net.

Here's the whole room. I stood outside the door of the room to take this picture! The window is on the south wall; the crib is on the east wall.

Here's the west wall, with the changing table/dresser unit. I have a fun wall hanging planned for the big empty space above it.

This is the mini quilt I made that hangs above the crib.

Baby has already amassed quite the collection of stuffed animals. (Okay, okay, you beat it out of me. They were mostly all mine and have been in storage for years because I couldn't bear to get rid of them.)

Since it's not a good idea to line her crib with animals, I wanted to buy a toy net to hang in the corner of her room. As I was looking around online I realized that I could crochet one very easily and for free with yarn from my stash, rather than shelling out $15 to buy one.

After a brief online hunt for an easy pattern, I dug out some cotton yarn and made a simple triangle. It's super cute and matches the colors already in her room, however it's really small and only holds three stuffed animals! I actually like that it's not huge, but if I did it again I'd definitely make it bigger.

Now, what do I do with the rest of the storage bin of stuffed animals? Turns out, I haven't really solved my problem yet. :)

Big Bunny is snuggled in between the crib and the closet doors.

Today, Hubby helped me organize the room and clean out the closet to make room for more stuff. We're ready to go!