All Smiles

Since I gave up dairy, Emery has been all smiles.

Things I'll Always Remember

Emery is seven weeks old today. I can't believe it! And a lot has happened in those seven weeks. In our lives, in this city and around the world. If there's one thing that you have a lot of time to do when on maternity leave, it's watch TV and I've certainly watched a lot of it. Here are some things that I will always remember about the first few weeks of her life as viewed on our television set...

The Grizzlies made it into the playoffs and the electricity in this city was amazing and so so exciting. We watched them night after night triumph over the #1 Spurs in the first series and then on to their eventual fall to the Thunder. But they made us proud til the very end. And it was such a great distraction from our screaming baby. James would just zone into the game while bouncing Emery in his arms as she just wailed and wailed. I'm not even sure James noticed her blood curdling screams! And we really looked forward to the late games because we knew we'd be up anyway! Go Grizz!

The city of Memphis endured unprecedented flooding (Photo: Joe Spake). Being at home with little "E", it felt like I practically watched the Mighty Muddy rise inch by inch over a two week time period. The news comes on five times a day...six if you count the national news and I saw just about every minute of every newscast and it was ALL about the flooding.

The world watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. And I watched right along with the world beginning at 3:30 AM CST. It was great to have something to look forward to watching at that time of the morning while feeding little e. It was sure better than infomercials.

Bin Laden was brought to justice. It's weird to think that by the time Case and Emery are in school, they will probably learn about 9-11 in their history classes. And their Uncle Tyler will be able to tell them all the details that the text books leave out since he was there that day and lived through one of the most horrific days in our nations history.

The President of the United States came to Memphis to speak at Booker T. Washington High School's graduation. It was exciting. I was glued to the TV from the moment Air Force One landed at the airport until the time it took off again. How exciting for this city and for that school! I couldn't help but wonder what was going through those kid's heads as they walked across the stage and shook hands with the President. So. Freakin'. Cool.

And finally, I watched the last 25 episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show every afternoon at 4:00 while laying on the couch with Emery snoozing on my chest. The best hour of my day! I've grown up watching that show and although I don't watch it much anymore since I work until 5 or later, I'm still going to miss it.

Birthday Week

Wednesday was my 29th Birthday. It was good for a number of reasons...

1. Lots of cards and warm wishes from my friends and family
2. A delicious birthday cake from Kendall
3. Lunch with Randi
   
4. A gift card to Urban Outfitters from my hubby - I plan to go on Saturday sans kiddos and spend it on some much needed new clothes
5. I didn't pack a single box
   

And after many sleepless nights and frustrating days filled with Emery screaming and not sleeping, we finally went to see the pediatrician. She weighs over 10 pounds, so hunger is definitely not the problem. He recommended trying a no-dairy diet for a week to see if that makes any difference. So, no milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. Many of my favorite foods contain dairy, so this is going to be a challenge for me, but if it works, it will be worth it. Fingers crossed that we see some results in a few days.

There is one thing we've found that soothes our baby girl. The hair dryer. One night this week we put her in the bathroom and turned the dryer on and left it in the sink blowing cold air. She fell asleep, so we left it on for over two hours, fearful that if we turned it off she would wake up. Hey, WHATEVER WORKS, RIGHT??

New House

So excited about our new house! The SOLD sign in the yard makes it seem a lot more real. Just wish I could get excited about packing and moving all of our belongings. Sigh...

Off the Map

It's been awhile since my last post and for good reason. I can think of at least 10 other things I should be doing right now. Among them are take a nap, pack up some boxes, go through the attic, write thank yous, pay bills, etc. The list is endless. We've got a lot going on and a high-maintenance baby and toddler on top of it all. But, we will survive this craziness and look back and laugh one day, I hope.

Here is the last week in snapshots. We've been all over the place making sure Emery meets all of her relatives.

Day trip to New Johnsonville. Emery with her Great Granny Winnie.

Then to Arkansas for a few days. Emery with her Mimi.


And with her Great Granny Fowlkes.


Snoozin' in the Nap Nanny (more on the Nap Nanny to come in a separate post).

And while we were in Mtn. View, we were able to catch one of my nephew Will's baseball games. Case kept wondering when he was going to get a turn to hit the ball. Can't wait for him to play t-ball in another couple of years!




And finally one quick pic of Case playing with his cousins at their house. It's such great fun to have cousins close enough in age to enjoy playing together and Case is lucky enough to have four of them!

"The Colic"

Colic. That's what we've been dealing with the past few weeks. What is colic exactly? It's medically defined as a condition of a healthy baby in which she shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week. Why do people refer to it as "the colic?" That, I have no idea but it's definitely what we're dealing with. Emery starts in most nights about 6:00 and cries uncontrollably for anywhere from 4-6 hours. And I mean uncontrollably...shaking, red face, can't catch her breath. It's heartbreaking to listen to and watch. At first I thought she was just hungry and panicked thinking that I didn't have enough milk for her. One night I nearly sent James out to get some formula. I literally thought I was starving the girl. But that wasn't the case. She's definitely not starving to death with those fat thighs and cheeks she's developed. The girl's just got "the colic" and it's a bit exhausting. I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully she will be over it before I have to go back to work in July. I don't know that I can survive this without frequent naps during the day.

But even with "the colic", she's still sweet as can be. And because a post is just more interesting with a photo, here she is on Sunday dressed in one of my old dresses that my mom saved. Still looks so precious nearly 30 years later.