On the 1st day of Christmas...

It's the first day of Christmas! Christmas is ONLY 12 days away-yikes YAY!!  Like always, we've procrastinated our shopping and now we have a ton to get done in just one short week. It wouldn't be Christmas without having to run all over town with all the other crazies, right?! Hoping to get most of our shopping done this weekend, but the holiday parties are starting this weekend so we'll see what actually gets done. Last year I was 9 weeks pregnant and just about to share our big news with all of our families. Crazy to think that we were pregnant with a little bean and spending our first Christmas together as husband and wife just one short year ago. It has been our favorite Christmas thus far, but we're pretty sure this year will top all others!

Our house was decked with holiday cheer last week and Emerson can't get enough of it! He is completely entranced by the twinkling of the lights and the sparkle of all the glitter. Of course we had to snap a few cliche pictures with him and the lights - don't worry, no babies were harmed in the making of these great pics!

We knew he'd love the lights because the week before last our friends invited us to look at Christmas lights with them and he was in awe. We all went out to dinner and then drove to "Deacon Dave's" to checkout this year's masterpiece. Apparently this is the place to be come Christmas time, but this is the first year I've been. Maybe we started a new tradition with Emerson! The lights were gorgeous, but it was cold and rainy so we didn't get too many great shots. Here's the few we were able to get.

The babes all bundled up!

We're standing on the "Proposal Bridge" and I can see why!

Nice and cozy

Two weeks ago we had Emerson's holiday pictures taken and I'm obsessed! This kid is just too flipping cute! I just want to squeeze his chubby cheeks! These pics made for our best Christmas card yet!

We're getting so excited for our little guy's first Christmas Eve and Christmas morning! Fingers crossed a new camera will be in mama's stocking! I need to start posting top-notch quality pics! I pushed a baby out my hoohah; I think I deserve it! :) 

Our Christmas festivities will be posted soon so until then have a very Merry Christmas! We love you all!

Mid-Month Mugshots - 19 Weeks Holiday style!

Emerson experienced his first Thanksgiving last week! He may have only been able to stuff his tummy with Mommy's milk, but I'm pretty sure his drooling was for all the food he saw and not from teething. We had a nice day with all of our families, but once again we were on the road most of the day. It'll probably be that way for most of our Thanksgivings, but come Christmas time we're going to have to find a new routine. That's a stress headache in the making so let's not even go there yet. 

AJ and I both come from divorced families, which means we have been blessed with twice as many family gatherings! We both feel the more the merrier when it comes to family, but it's always a challenge come holiday time. We are from families with many established traditions, but now that we have our own family we'd like to start making some new traditions of our own. This is easier said then done, but spending more time with our son on the holidays is worth it!

Here's a few snapshots of Emerson during his first holiday season! Can't wait for more Christmas spirit photo shoots!

Our little Turkey!

As you can see, he's in love with his feet.

Passed out from all the shenanigans

This was supposed to be his outfit for xmas pictures, but it's a tad too small.

Giving Gus Gus loves

4 Months

Once again I'm late to post, but here's a little bit about our 4 month old. Emerson is continuing to grow like a weed and his measurements reflect it.  At his 4 month check up Emerson weighed in at 14.3 lbs (21st %); he was 25 inches long (39th %); and had a 16.5 inch round noggin (he's got the Kelley five-head) (54th %). He may not be a big baby, but he's growing steadily. 

Emerson's little body isn't the only thing that's been getting bigger, his personality has grown leaps and bounds over the last month. We have a little character on our hands. He's typically all smiles, but he's started to become a whiny baby when he wants something. In addition to whining, he's also found his voice; he's our little pipsqueak now. 

Another new sound Emerson has been making is a fake cough. He's figured out what it means to cough so now he does it all of the time. It didn't take him long to figure out that coughing gets Mommy's and Daddy's attention right away. Little booger!

This last week Emerson has been one cranky bebe. A few weeks ago we thought he might have been teething because he was drooling like crazy and putting everything in his mouth. At his Dr. appt she said it didn't look like he was teething, but that he'd start in the next month or two, but with this cranky attitude and even more drool I'm still thinking we'll be seeing teeth soon. Fingers crossed this little tude of his will go away soon!

In addition to being a butt head some days, Emerson has also started sleeping really weird. I read that the 4th month is the worst month for sleep in babies. Apparently they start sleeping light like adults, but they haven't mastered falling back to sleep when they startle. Welp, Emerson has proven that theory. Instead of sleeping his 8 to 9+ hours he's only beeing sleeping 5 or 6 hours before waking up throwing a fit. I know I shouldn't be complaining about 5 or 6 hours, but I was just getting used to sleeping full nights again.

AJ and I have experienced so many amazing things in these last four months. Being a parent is the most wonderful job in the world. We both can't believe how much Emerson changes in just a blink of an eye. We can't wait to experience our first Christmas as a family! 

Mid-month Mugshots - 16 weeks

It's Movember! Emerson is ready for the month of facial hair and turkeys! Of course I had to dress him for the occasion-he's going to hate me for all of this one day!

What a ridiculous hat-I had to buy it!

Emerson is 16 weeks and literally changing right before my eyes. A little over two weeks ago he started rolling from side to side with little effort then two Mondays ago he was inches from rolling over, and this past weekend he finally did it! He was trying so hard to roll from back to tummy so I thought he was going to do that first, but he surprised us with a tummy to back roll. I'm afraid if I blink I'm going to miss all of his new faces, his growing personality, and his big milestones. I turned my attention away from him for 30 seconds and when I looked back he was doing this:

I'm so happy AJ and I were home and filming him when he decided to do this:

Emerson is four weeks into daycare and the whole family is loving it! Miss Vicki is so great with him and she works so hard to help his little body grow stronger. I've told you how much this kid hates tummy time, but with the extra help from daycare he's doing 5-8 min intervals now! Any day now this kid is going to be moving across the floor-guess that means I can't slack on the vacuuming anymore. 

With so many of our friends having babies around Emerson's age it's hard not to compare your baby's growth with theirs. Compared to our friends' kids, our little guy is truly a little guy! He goes in for his 4 month checkup on the 25th and I'm already expecting him to weigh in at the 1st or 2nd percentile. It's not that he's not eating-he just started drinking 6oz and he eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We've had to start supplementing formula on a regular basis because Mama's boobies can't keep up with this little piglet. We have another two weeks before the Dr's so maybe the added formula will help him pack on some lbs before then.     

Besides getting weighed and measured, Emerson will be getting another round of shots. Poor Poor mama baby. I really hope he doesn't get a fever this time around. His shots are coming at a bad time because we're pretty sure he's teething or just about to start. So far he's only been an absolute drool monster, but I'll take that over a cranky baby with a fever any day. Along with the drool comes a new trick-Emerson can make spit bubbles now!

Emerson is starting to really interact with us and his surroundings. He loves grabbing for toys or anything else he can get his hands on (mommy's hair-OUCH). He loves when toys make sounds and play music; he gets so excited! He's learned which toy makes the music play on his bouncer and that's the one he grabs. He never wants to close his eyes because he's afraid he's going to miss something. He takes 30-45 min naps at home, but when he's at daycare he fights off sleep until he can no longer keep his eyes open. He loves looking at the other babies and kids running around. There's another 4 month old at daycare and they love looking and cooing at each other. I hope they will both grow up together and be the best of friends.  

Happy almost Christmas!! If you're like me you're already listening to the Christmas music and just dying to put up your decorations! We don't host anyone for Thanksgiving, but I always wait until the day after to decorate. I CAN'T WAIT!

Three Months

Emerson is a quarter of a year old! I still can't believe it, but I gave birth to my baby boy 14 weeks ago. He has completely changed our world in such a short time. The love in my heart for this kid takes my breath away.

The other weekend we took our first family pictures. It was originally supposed to be Emerson's 3 month/Halloween shoot, but with no costume (more on that in a minute) we had time to add some family shots. At this age it is so hard to schedule appointments because there's no saying what kind of mood he'll be in at that time on that day, but thankfully he was great this time. We came prepared with a bottle so anytime he started to get cranky we just stuck that thing in his mouth and he was a-okay. I'm so in love with the final products!

Halloween came and went WAY too fast. We had one heck of a time with costumes this year. This is one of my favorite holidays and AJ and I always dress up, but this year I was so focused on finding a costume for Emerson that AJ and I just decided to dress up as parents! I thought I was ahead of the game when I bought Emerson's costume a month in advance, but I'm dumb and never had him try it on until the week before his pictures and of course it ended up being too big. We bought a super cute elephant costume at Costco and after that didn't fit, AJ ordered a baby pilot costume that was to die for. We bought the costume and a cute matching bomber pilot hat to go with it and when they came in the mail neither fit, UGH! The costume was sized 0-6 months, but was clearly made for a fat and long 6 month old. What newborn do you know that is the same size as a 6 month old?? Since both costumes were too big and because we waited until the week before Halloween to figure that out we went with the smaller of the two and ta-da, Emerson the Elephant! Still the cutest elephant I've ever seen!

He was over his costume at this point

My First Halloween!

Three months for Emerson meant back to work for me. BOO! He's been at daycare for two weeks now and I'm just starting to adjust. I've been very lucky and have had part time approved for my first 6 months back so Emerson only has to be at daycare three days a week. Leaving him on his first day was by far one of the hardest things I've ever done. The week before he started daycare Emerson started sleeping 7-8 hours every night. It was perfect timing for me because working makes it a tad hard to stay in my pjs all day and catch some zzz's during nap time. The week before I went back I started planning out how our mornings would work and I thought I had a pretty great plan, but of course our first morning was hell! Everything that could go wrong, did; it's like Emerson knew I was leaving him. My first day back I didn't have to come in until 8 am, but I wanted to get ready as if it was my normal 7:30 start time. Emerson had other plans for me, I didn't get to work until 8:15! 

After a stressful, emotional morning I started going through my 1000+ emails, trying to hold off on my first call to daycare. I made it to 9 am and finally cracked! When Miss Vicki answered the phone I could hear Emerson screaming and my heart instantly broke. Apparently he had been screaming all morning long. She told me that she would get him to calm down in another room, but the minute she walked back into the room with everyone he would start looking around for me and AJ and when he didn't see us, he'd start screaming again. I felt SO bad for Emerson and my daycare lady. The tears I fought so hard to keep back when I dropped him off started to flow. I waited until noon to make my next call and again he was screaming. My poor, poor baby. I made one more call around 2 and Miss Vicki finally had some good news. Emerson finally cried himself to sleep around 12:30 and didn't get up until 1:45 and when he woke up he was a happy baby. AJ picked him up at 4 and said Emerson started smiling the second he saw him. It was so great to get home and wrap my arms around my baby boy. The next morning went off without a hitch and when I made my first call to daycare he had been a perfect angel since I dropped him off. My day was so much easier to get through once I heard the good news. When I took him for his second week I was nervous he'd have another bad day because of the 4-day break, but he was great this week too! Thank goodness he only took one day to adjust! I knew this whole thing was going to be harder on me than him. I just have to remind myself that this is the best thing for him; he will gain so much from being around other kids all day!

Emerson has grown up so much in the last month. He loves smiling, talking, and he's even giggled once! He can hold his giant noggin up without any problems and he's started to try sitting up with a little assistance from the Boppy wrapped around him. In one week Emerson went from crying the minute you laid him on his tummy to lifting his head up and hanging out for a few minutes. He's also started using his little legs to stand up and push up off of things. This month he's also started to grab for things like toys on his playmat. He loves when Mommy and Daddy read and sing to him. He still loves his bouncer and his Mamaroo. His favorite obsession right now are his hands-he's always sucking on them. Sometimes it's just his finger or thumb, but most of the time he's trying to put his whole fist in his mouth. We don't have any official measurements, but from our attempts we think he's 25 1/4 inches and around 14lbs. He's not a newborn anymore! Can't wait to find out how big he is at his 4 month checkup. 

Love this kid!

Bestie in Town

Two weeks ago Mr. Emerson finally got to meet his Auntie Casi! The BFF flew in for a two day Cali vacation and we got to spend both days with her! Casi flew out to surprise her sister for her birthday, but the rest of us knew she was coming so we planned a weekend of awesomeness!! 

The last few years we've been going to the pumpkin patch as a group and I wanted to continue that tradition this year so a few weeks ago I started secretly planning our trip. I brought it up to her sister and acted like my family was too busy to go any other day, but Friday; she totally fell for it! It was the best night ever! We spent time picking out pumpkins and then we all went to pizza together. I miss my best friend so much!!! Not going to lie, I literally ran to her with arms open like a cheesy movie scene. And I'll do it again next time! 


The whole gang!



Mommies and their Babies

I miss this face!



The ladies

Love my family



The babies



Fam Bam with Nana



My half of this crazy family!

Perfection!



Emerson meet your Auntie Casi

Could he be any cuter?!

Since Casi was only here for a short time we jam-packed her weekend! After a fun-filled night at the pumpkin patch, Casi, her family (my faux family), and us woke up early and headed out to Monterey; the weather was beautiful. :) We had all previously purchased a Travelzoo deal for Peter B's Brewpup so that's where we spent most of the afternoon. Good food, great beer, and wonderful company - it was the best day! Best part of all, Emerson got some more snuggle time with his Auntie Casi!

Our souvenir - best use of the Mommy Hook by far!

The weekend went by WAY too fast, but I'm so happy we had our time with Casi. It would have been way to long to wait until the holidays. Now it's time to start our next countdown to Casi's visit! Hopefully she can bring AJ's lover Josh next time. Miss you already Bestie!

Mid-Month Mugshots - 11 weeks

Happy October! One of my favorite months of the year! October means Fall, which means Pumpkin flavored everything including my personal favorites BEER and Pumpkin Spiced Lattes. Fall also means Fall weather, which means leggings, boots, and sweatshirts are back in my wardrobe! 

October means Halloween is near, which means tons of cute and spooky outfits! Emerson has already been spotted sporting some festive attire.

 

Tomorrow we are taking Emerson to his first pumpkin patch! We are going with family and friends and I can't wait for all the cute pictures we'll get! I'm pretty sure after the pumpkin patch I'll be enjoying some pumpkin beer with the gang!

 

Another October favorite is Post Season Baseball! The A's won their Division and they're currently fighting for the ALDS win. Tonight is Game 5 so ROOT for the A's! Let's Go Oakland! One of my bucket list items is going to a World Series game so I'm hoping I can check that off this year! Of course Emerson has been showing his support!

Training him early.

Can't wait for this weekend! My son is going to be the cutest pumpkin at the pumpkin patch!

 

Love this face!