2 Weeks!

I laugh when I think that I should be in the hospital to have Emma right about now, but instead I have a beautiful 2 week old baby... So here is what is going on these past 2 weeks...

• Sleepless nights
• Endless poopy diapers
• headaches (postpartum hypertension)
• Water retention (swollen ankles)... Now my feet are back to normal
• Marathon feedings
• Yellow baby (jaundice)
• Bili Blanket for the jaundice
• Tantrums from my 2 year old
• Wonderful meals prepared by my great neighbors
• Endless support and love from family and friends

It is a juggling act dealing with my 2 kids, but I love almost every minute of it. I can't say that I like the long nights.

Here are some pics of baby Emma at home.

Don't They Look Alike???

Ethan

Emma

Don't they look alike?

Baby Emma

Emma Joy Newman

Life got a lot more interesting this week. My sweet baby girl, Emma Joy, made an early arrival early Tuesday morning at 2:08 am... She was 3 weeks early! She weighed in at 6 lb. 11 oz. and 20.5 inches long. Almost the same as her big brother, Ethan.

Emma's story...

The Thursday before, I started feeling contractions, which I thought were just those pesky braxton hicks. The contractions were irregular so I kept on my merry way. Especially since Scott was still in California and I didn't want to do this without him. Friday evening, those contractions came back with intensity, still irregular. I thought I would sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning. The weekend wasn't too bad, just very uncomfortable with minor contractions off and on. Monday morning I had my weekly dr.'s appointment. I was told I was dilated to a 2 and the baby has dropped. I was pretty much told that I will be having this baby within the week and if I continue to have these contractions that I needed to go straight to the hospital.

So you guessed it, I had those contractions all Monday and finally in the evening I told Scott that I think we need to go to the hospital. If anything, to get checked to see if I progressed at all. After waiting around for a couple of hours the dr. decided to keep me there and deliver the baby that night.

We went in about 6:30 ish and by 2:00ish we had our little girl with about 20 minutes of pushing. We definitely didn't plan this and it was a surprise that I had her this early. We weren't expecting her until the 29th. But I have to say, I'm so glad she is here and is part of our family. I forgot what it was like to have a newborn at home, but we are adjusting. The nights are the worse, but I am blessed to have Scott home to help so I can get the rest I need during the day.

Those who stayed up late to see our little girl make her first appearance... and... her hospital stay!

Mommy and her precious little girl!

Proud daddy!
Grandpa Riddle... Grandbaby #7

Grandma Riddle

Grandma Newman... Grandbaby #17

Grandpa Newman

Ethan finally meets Emma... Not too sure about this arrangement!

Trying to get Ethan to hold Emma...
Pretty in Pink! Starting to see the jaundice.

Getting ready to go home. Doesn't like this car seat thingy!

But she does love her new blankie!

Around the Yard!

Rose

Another rose

Peony

Iris

Another Rose

Blossoms on Crabapple tree

My little man enjoying a picnic at our new patio set. He loves being outside and having picnics.

Another Scott Update...

Herndon, Virginia (2)
New York City (2)
Dallas, Tx
Boston, Mass.
Schaumburg, IL
Toronto, Canada (2)
Mexico City, Mexico
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Houston, TX
Irvine, CA

Scott has been busy as usual. He has been out of town about every other week. This week he is in California and will be home for the next 4 weeks. Yep, you heard right. Scott is going to be home for 4 straight weeks. Hopefully, he'll be able to go down to Provo and do some extra work. He also has a developmental writing job for Juniper that will keep him busy. I'm excited to have him home, as you may know, I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy and can possibly deliver any time. The last thing I want is to have Scott out of town if I go into labor. As of right now, I'm still scheduled to be induced on June 29th. You never know what will happen in the next couple of weeks.

E-T-H-A-N

I'm excited for Ethan and his love of learning. This past week we've been working on spelling his name. He is starting to understand that letters makes words, which is very important early reading skill. Sure I want Ethan to learn how to read early, it's the teacher in me, but I'm not forcing him. I still think it will be awhile before he actually learns to read.

But I'm excited, he can now spell his name. I ask him to spell his name and he tells me the right letter in the right order. Here is his creation from his bath. I did have to help put the letters in the right order, but he knew them.

The other word was mom. The green M/W is running away. Sometimes he'll put up some letters or numbers and tell me that it is dog or Scott (the 9 was left over from his attempt to spell Scott).

Names

This morning I asked Ethan the following and here's his response...

"What's Ethan's name?" Ethan
"What's Mommy's name?" Mom
"What's Dad's name?" Scott

"You hear that?"

I hope no one takes offense to this story, but it's too funny not to post. So here is goes...

Lately, Ethan has been asking us, "You hear that?" and we tell him what sounds he may be hearing. When Ethan passes gas (aka fart) he says, " You hear that?" and I respond, "what was it?" and he replies, "that's my bum!" Of course with a big smile on his face. I promise I don't try to encourage this response, I actually been trying to get him to say "excuse me" which he'll say with prompting. Ethan continues to make me laugh...