A couple of firsts

It's been an exciting week:
- Emi first smiled last week, and it wasn't just gas (week 5)
- I went out and left Emi alone with Daddy for the first time on Sunday. I ran some errands, and yesterday morning went to my 6 week checkup. Has it really been 6 weeks already?
- Emi discovered her tongue yesterday, and stuck it out at us, mimicking us, last night
- Today, Emi had her first blow out (poop, that is) up her back and all over her onesie, blanket and mattress cover

And most exciting, Scott and I went out on Saturday to see Spamalot. This was our first time leaving Emi with anyone. We dropped her off at my parents house (Uncle Rene and Aunt Rosa were in town to help out), and grabbed a quick lunch on our way downtown to the Civic Center. We then stopped at our house on our way home to let the dogs out and give them dinner, then headed back to my parent's for a family dinner. The show was great (so funny) and I only called home once during intermission to check in on how things were going. Everything went fine, there was minimal crying, and I didn't stress out as much as I thought I would. I knew I would either be the stressed out mom who couldn't wait to go home and missed her baby like crazy, or I would be relieved to have a baby free outing. It was very nice to get away for a little bit, and I didn't say "I wonder what Emi is doing right now" at all! I used to say that all the time when we first left Chewie with anyone (is something wrong with me that I think about my dog that much?). Grandma and Grandpa babysitting is going to have to become a monthly thing, I think!

A successful night out

Tonight was a great night out! Scott came home from work, and we went to buy the swing for Emi. Updates on how she likes it to come, once we try it out tomorrow.
After going to the store, we got dinner at Fudruckers, which we figured was pretty kid friendly, and wouldn't be bad in case Emi decided to wake up and cry. But she was great all night, and did wake up for a bit towards the end of dinner, but was quiet and content. After a couple of swings in the car seat by dad, she was back asleep and I even had to wake her up when we got back home.

But the best part of the night was the beer I had with dinner. This was the first whole beer that I have had in months, and it tasted SO GOOD! And to top things off, they played a Cat Stevens song that I love during dinner. What a great night.

Things I love about Emi:
- The way she stretches and the faces she makes when we wake her up in the morning and unswaddle her. It's is adorable, and I have to get it on video one of these days.
- The way she holds her hands when she's drinking from her bottle. She makes little fists, and tucks them under her chin - which is even more adorable since we've started tucking the burp cloth under her chin, under her hands.
- The way she loves her bath, and the way she looks when her hair is all wet.
- Anytime that she is quiet and sleeping - thank goodness for these small patches of peace at home!

Our growing little monkey - ohoh, who just woke up

Yesterday, Emi weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz. and measured 21.5 inches at her doctor's appt. Woohoo! We are doing something right, huh. That means she gained about a pound in 2 weeks - maybe we should call her piggy instead of monkey from now on. She did seem to eat all the time (sometimes every hour) that past 2 weeks, and the doc said that she was probably playing catch up. She also said that sometime babies of little women gain a lot of weight after they are born because they didn't have the room to gain a lot before they were born. So I am little - that was the nicest thing I have heard in months!

I'm still feeling a little house bound (I'm catching up on reruns of the O.C.), but getting Emi out yesterday to visit Scott's work and go to the doctor was good for me. Although it seemed to take a half hour just to leave the house, it was good for me to do that by myself. We are slowly getting into a little more of a routing - Emi still sleeps for about 5 hours at night (which doesn't mean we sleep that long - with all the pumping, washing of bottles, etc), waking up between 5am and 6am. We feed her, change her, and then she goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. That's enough time for me to eat breakfast, check emails, and then catch a little nap. The next time she wakes up, she sometimes is very calm and sedate, which lets me take a shower. But sometimes, her crankiness starts, and she fusses unless she's held almost all day. Our afternoons are unpredictable - sometimes she's great, and sometimes it's an afternoon of feeding and rocking. Dinner time usually consists of Scott making dinner while I feed her, then she calms down but of course as soon as we are ready to eat she gets cranky. So we take turns eating, while the other holds her. But fortunately, she's been getting into the habit of sleeping after her 9pm feeding or so, then we wake her up for a bottle at midnight, and the cycle starts over again with about 5 hours of sleep and an early morning for us.

I've noticed that she's crankier when it's hot in the house, and we have been going through a heat wave for the past 2 weeks. We even had to go out and buy an air condition unit - but the improvement in Emi's mood since we got it is worth every penny. We just have to wait and see what our electric bill looks like next month! Scott said tonight that he doesn't even remember what the first week home was like (I wish I could forget!). But time is actually flying by fast, and we are all hanging in there.