One Month and Counting

Emma has now been in our lives for a month (as of Sept. 2nd). She is quickly becoming a little person with unique quirks. I love watching her personality being formed. It is hard to believe that soon she will be talking, reading, pretending... I can't wait (well, maybe I can wait a bit).

I thought for her 1 month birthday it would be fun to make a list of things that make Emma...Emma, at this point in her life.

-Her hair feels like duck fluff and most of the time it stands straight up like she is a little rock star.

-She is beginning to hold onto our fingers. The first time this happened I am pretty sure I melted a bit.

-When we talk to her while she is "crying" out for attention she changes her tone to this adorable coo like she knows that everything is going to be ok.

-There has only been one bath where she hasn't thought the world was going to end.

-Her current nickname is Froggy. She constantly sits like a frog with her legs tucked underneath her. It is adorable. Here is a picture of her in her froggy towel. I am pretty sure her eyes are saying, "why in the world are you taking that picture instead of holding me close and making me warm?"

-She is still wearing newborn clothes. I love this about her. Side note: she has long arms and legs, so even though she is tiny I am certain she is going to be taller than me (hooray).

-Holding her head up while on her tummy is one of her favorite things...even though it sometimes ends with a headbutt for mom and dad.

-She is starting to show her personality with her expressions. She has this way of looking at you out of the corner of her eye that seems to say, "what are you trying to make me do?" or "I think you are up to something and I am not sure that I like it." This isn't exactly the look, but it is still adorably expressive.

-She seems to always know when it is dinner time. And, understandably, that means it is time for her to eat too.

-Two words. Squirmy worm. There is really no other way to describe her... and this is why most of the pictures we tried to take yesterday turned out like this:

-I am pretty sure Emma speaks Pig Latin--if Pig Latin were a real language made up of a combination of snorts, grunts, and squeals.

-She is starting to begin smiling and it is amazing.

-It seems to be very tiring to be 1 month old.

"We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax"

9 minutes before Emma's official 3-week birthday, this happened:

Many of you know that we live in a new construction neighborhood, so it's not uncommon to get large dump trucks carrying gravel, lumber, or other building equipment down the road. The sound started out rattling the windows in the same sort of way, but I looked out the window, saw nothing, and immediately knew it was an earthquake. I ran into the bedroom, grabbed Emma, and stood in the door frame with her in my arms.
Like the great child she has been, she continued to sleep through the biggest earthquake in Virginia in over a century. For those reading this from farther away locations, we are all fine, the house is fine, and we never lost electricity (or any other amenities).

When the earthquake happened, we were getting ready to go out for Emma's first walk. Today was an absolutely perfect day in the Shenandoah Valley. After the earthquake, we felt it best to stay inside, keep an eye on things, and postpone the walk for another day. Hopefully, the rest of the week will stay nice.

Pam and John (Amber's parents) finally moved into their new house in Staunton this past weekend and we had a chance this evening to finally go over to the house to see them and have dinner. They've gotten an incredible amount of work done for having been in the house such a short amount of time.
It's hard to believe that it's been 3 weeks since Emma was born. Every day has been absolutely amazing and she is growing up so quickly. Hopefully, we'll have pictures of our first walk together in the next post. Until then, here's what Amber and Emma look like most of the time:

The quote from this post comes from Samuel Goldwyn. We started with an earthquake and here's the climax:It should be an interesting week...

Settling In

At the two week marker we are starting to look more like a family and less like a ball of chaos. Emma has found a rhythm for eating and sleeping. It is not the perfect schedule for grown-up sleeping, but it is a tad structured and for that we are thankful.

She is growing every day, so we are trying to take pictures whenever possible. Here are some of the latest:

One Whole Week

Emma has been here for an entire week. She was born at 2pm on Tuesday August 2nd. We have been home since Thursday and we have been slowly figuring things out ever since. Each day we learn a little more that makes our lives easier and allows us to feel a bit more like ourselves.

At first, Emma had a hard time figuring out the whole eating thing, but now that has been settled we are trying to put together some kind of "routine" (which will constantly change... but it is a nice thought).

This first week has been full of fun milestones:

-first "bath"

-the losing of the cord

-eating without the use of a bottle

-first time peeing on Dad (and the second, third...)

-filing her nails: she went to town scratching her face in the hospital, so we have tried to stop that

-two doctor appointments

-growing an inch

-gaining back some of her initial weight

-the cat leaving her favorite toy by the rocking chair: this may not seem like a big deal, but that is a major sign of affection in this house

-first book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

-first baseball game watched: Red Sox vs. Yankees

-first Papi homerun seen

This has been the craziest week of my life, but that little face makes everything seem like a tiny hiccup on the way towards something amazing.

4 Years + 9 Months = Happy Family

First, a few updates about the nursery. I have been working to put the finishing touches on the room. One of the last things I did was work on the curtains. I already had khaki curtains in the room, but they needed a bit of something special. The bed set that I purchased came with a bed skirt (which did not work with our crib), so I decided to take it apart and use it to help out the curtains a bit. I think the final product is super cute.

My last art project was really to tie the room together. I wanted to use a set of vinyl letters that my Dad had put in my Christmas stocking about 5 years ago. So, I painted a large canvas the same color as the smaller ones and cut out butterflies using some of the same patterns as the other animals. There is an open space on the bottom right in which I plan on putting mountable photograph corners, so that a picture could be easily placed and changed based on a current family dream. The first one I want to put there will be one of our first as a family.

Now, something super fun.... the 23rd of July was our 4th wedding anniversary. To celebrate the day, our friend Katie Ford came over and held a photoshoot with myself, Joe, and my 38-week pregnant belly. It was a lot of fun. Joe and I had been worried that we did not have enough belly shots, so this really solved that problem. We had planned on having an outdoor shoot, but considering the lovely heat wave going on, we moved the shoot inside. I love the way the pictures turned out. Some of them are serious, but most of them are silly which is more our style. Enjoy!

"but the trees have risen one more time"

Amber and I have been away from blogging for a little while because we have been so busy with baby-related things. A few weeks ago, we put vinyl trees up on the big wall in Emma's room. As the pictures will show, this was a time-consuming effort, but it was certainly worth the work. The trunk, branches, leaves, birds, and owls were all separate, so it meant cutting out each piece individually and putting them in just the right space.

Here was the wall just when we were getting started:

We used painter's tape to lay everything out on the wall the way we wanted it to look. The vinyl tree trunks proved to be the most difficult because each trunk came in two pieces, but most of them didn't match up perfectly. Thankfully, I was able to cut them to make them match up and appear seamless:

Eventually, all of the trees were done and it looked like wintertime:

The leaves were time-consuming, but Amber was able to tell me where they looked good, and the manufacturer gave guidelines for leaf placement, so they became pretty fun to put on the wall. Finally, we put the birds and one owl up on the wall. We debated putting more than one owl, but Emma's room already has a few owls here and there, so we thought we should probably chill with the owls. Besides, I kind of like this one guy, he seems like the sheriff of the room.

Our final, finished product, looks like this:

It has been so much fun to prepare this room for our daughter and we are looking forward to spending the next few weeks relaxing and awaiting her arrival.

The title for this post comes from a poem by W.S. Merwin called, "Rain at Night." It ends with the lines:

but the trees have risen one more time

and the night wind makes them sound

like the sea that is yet unknown

the black clouds race over the moon

the rain is falling on the last place

I hope that in future years she finds this room just the kind of unique, exceptional place described in the lines above.

I love my job!

So, the school year has ended, but I have been too busy to share my fun surprise. The last week of "teaching" in a high school is very jumbled. It is full of testing, screwed up schedules, and chaos. Because of all of this I had one classs for two extra class periods than the rest of my students. This is a great bunch of kids who have worked hard all year and so I told them at the beginning of May that, if they planned it, they could have a small party on the last day of class. Well, here is the thing about my job... students never do what you expect them to do. Instead of throwing a little celebration for themselves they decided to plan a surprise baby shower for me. This day came complete with decorations, games, snacks, and gifts. I really did not know what to say. When I looked at them (with a bit of embarrassment) and told them they did not have to do this they merely replied, "yes we did...we all wanted to." Adorable.

Here are my Block 2A American Studies students:

Even the boys participated... after asking about 20 questions when it came to the "baby clothes pin game."

This was the students' favorite gift of the day.

This was the thing that moved me the most. I got the same onesie set twice, but the best part was that it said "I will make a difference." They said that it fit my personality and because I liked it so much no one was embarrassed that they chose the same thing. I hope they all know they will also make (and are making) a difference.