7 Months

Emmett is 7 months old today! I don't know where the time has gone. He is hardly our little baby anymore and seems more like a little boy every day.

• Emmett is sitting up on his own now. We still have to spot him so he doesn't topple over but he is able to hold his own weight and sit up ..until he leans towards the next object of interest.
• His first tooth arrived on November 27th. We are still waiting on any others to poke through but it seems it is just a matter of time.
• Emmett is a smiley laughy happy boy almost all of the time. He has a very easy going personality that is showing more and more each day.
• He is now showing a lot of interest in tags of all kinds. When we notice he has taken interest in a new object or toy we have found that we then notice he is chewing or feeling its tag!
• He is currently outgrowing his 9 month clothing! It is hard to keep up with him. His feet are outgrowing size 12-24 month socks now so we have moved up to toddler sizes. We have also moved him up to size 4 diapers. He still fits in size 3 but we needed some more absorbency for night-time. I guess you can say he is healthy and is like to be a very big boy someday.
• We are still working on eating solids. Emmett does not seem particularly interested. He makes sour faces when eating fruits and only shows mild interest in vegetables. We're not pushing the issue. He'll get there someday!
• Emmett still gets up once usually around 3-5am for a snack.. then goes back to bed until 6:30 or 7am. His current bedtime is about 6:15pm since he has recently stopped falling asleep on the way home from daycare (yay!). Now we have time to give him a bath if needed and get his clothes changed before he becomes too tired to function.

We've been told by many to enjoy this "phase" that he is in because before we know it he will be crawling and walking and getting into everything. I'm sure they are right! We're just trying to enjoy each day we have with our 7 month old. :)

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree..

Emmett and I picked up a new Christmas tree and decor on sale from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago. Here it is in all of its glory. Luckily we do have a few gifts underneath it as we speak. If only the rest of our christmas decorating was done!

We are headed to celebrate Christmas with the Nelson side of the family this weekend. I can't believe the holidays are already upon us! Off to put up our nativity now... :)

Our Little Jumper

Emmett's favorite place to play!

Emmett's First Tooth

Emmett's first tooth finally broke through on November 27th.

He had been waking more frequently than usual. He was also getting over an ear infection so in some ways we thought a lot of his untypical crankiness was due to still having pain in his right ear. However, once his tooth popped through we realized he had been dealing with teething as well as ear pain! Poor babe.

This picture was taken last night and you can see his tooth is completely through. However, you'll notice that right next to it is an obvious bulge where his lower left incisor is trying to make its way to the surface as well! I guess we better get used this. :( I hope that the necklace that my friend Sarah recommended to us helps with his frequent nightwakings and pain. We'll see!

Emmett says - "Can I hold that camera now Mom?!"

Have a happy Sunday! :)

6 Month Stats

On 11/30/2011..

Emmett weighed in at 18 pounds 13 oz (67th percentile).
He was 27 1/2 inches long (76th percentile).

It seems that we have been blessed with a healthy growing boy!!

Favorite Place for Snoozin'

This snug little bear loves to sleep in his carseat. :)

Emmett falls asleep on our way home and only wakes for a quick snack before going to bed for the night! Although it's cute, I hope he outgrows this phase quickly so we can spend some time together in the evening soon.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

From our family..

And our little Turkey!

I know who we are thankful for this year. :) We hope you had a wonderful holiday!

6 Months!

Emmett turned 6 months old on November 16th 2011. I can hardly believe our "little" baby is half a year old! He has grown and changed so much.. and although a small part of me misses our precious "new" baby, we are truly enjoying the stage he is currently at.

Since our last monthly update...

• Emmett is VERY close to sitting up all on his own. He can actually do it, but likes to lean forward and rest on his hands or elbows. Silly boy! It may be because he does have a lot of weight to hold up!
• We are guessing he is weighing in around 20 lbs. and is at least 27 inches long. We'll find out his exact stats at his 6 month doctor visit on the 30th.
• Emmett has come down with eczema. We had a little scare and thought it might have been the chicken pox! Luckily, it was not. However, eczema can be a life long skin condition. Our doctor told us that many children grow out of it by the time they are three. It is also easily controlled by keeping his skin moisturized. We have been applying lotion to him during EVERY diaper change. Luckily our daycare doesn't seem to mind (Ms. Vay and Ms. Ginger). They just love Emmett and we so appreciate them as well.
• As you can see from our previous post Emmett now rolls over very easily. We have started to find him on his tummy when we lay him down on his back. The fun part for us is that almost every time he flips onto his stomache, his spits up shortly after! He doesn't seem to mind but it does mean extra clean up for us.
• His new favorite sound to make is "Da da da da da... " I am convinced that he still doesn't know what he is saying, although we like to pretend he is saying "dada" and talking to Rustin. I particularly like to pretend that is what he is saying when we hear him babbling in his crib in the morning - "Dada.. I think he wants you!" :)
• Emmett still loves his jumperoo. It is his favorite place to play and he has learned to jump straight up and down. It can be entertaining for us too. He also enjoys tummy and back time.
• He still loves music. Anytime one of us starts to sing a song it brings a smile to his face!
• Emmett still has no teeth!! Back on his 4 month update I had indicated he had a white spot (assumed tooth) poking through his gum. However, since then it receded and has yet to make its reappearance. I have noticed that area is a little swollen but we are still waiting to see the tooth pop through.
• We have started to give Emmett solids. Last weekend was our first try with bananas. We are making a little progress since we've been trying it about once a day for a week.
• Emmett has been having a little trouble napping at daycare. When they lay him down he seems to just want to jibber jabber, grab his feet, roll over, and just play in general. I think there are a lot of distractions there as opposed to when he naps in his quiet room in his crib at home (like he is doing right now! :) ). We have been trying to work on it, but I have started to accept it might just be a phase that he is going through or an adjustment period. He typically gets 2 45 minute naps a day although on Friday he actually had 2 2 hour naps. So, I am hopeful. He then typically falls asleep in the car on the way home, wakes for dinner (breastmilk) around 6 or 7 and then drifts off to dreamland and doesn't wake again until somewhere between 3 and 5am (which mama is very pleased with!). Occassionally we have about an hour of play time in the evening where we might try to now feed him a little bit of solids and/or give him a bath if needed.
• He loves bath time. Emmett enjoys kicking and splashing! It is always a good time for the little guy.
• One new toy that Emmett really likes is something of Mommy's. I recently purchased some Chewbeads. I purchased a basic black strand and he enjoys chewing on them when being held or after he is done nursing.
• Emmett enjoys being tickled on his sides and his chubby thighs, playing "get daddy!", trot trot trot to market and other bouncing on our knees games, touching mommy and daddy's faces, chewing on his bib, grabbing anything he can get ahold of, feeling different textures, jabbering, touching his toes, and his paci when sleeping.

The transformation that has taken place in this household from six months ago to today is amazing. It's so hard to believe that I gave birth to this big boy 6 months ago. He is the most precious and important part of our lives and we can't imagine life without him. We were trying to imagine what life with him will be like 6 months from now! It is hard to picture. I'm sure he will continue to amaze us and we look forward to seeing him grow and change.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

We finally caught Emmett rolling over on video! We even had to trick him to get this to happen. :) We set up the video camera, walked away.. and then sure enough.. as soon as we did he flips over to his tummy. I guess he didn't want an audience.. :) haha.

Happy Halloween!

5 Months

Emmett turned 5 months old on October 16th! In some ways we cannot believe how fast time has flown by and in others it seems like we've had our little boy forever. :) Since our 4 month update..

• Emmett had his 4 month doctor appointment on the 23rd of September and weighed in at 17 pounds 3 oz and was 26 inches long. I'm guessing he is now somewhere in the 18 pound range and getting pretty close to 27 inches.
• His tooth has disappeared down into his gums and has been causing him some discomfort as it tries to push its way back up to the surface. Teething is painful stuff. We've had one or two rough nights because of this (when I say rough I mean waking up a few times to be comforted back to sleep).
• He is developing quite the belly laugh and we love to try to bring it out. Emmett is a lot more fun and sturdy these days. He enjoys things like bouncing around the house on Mommy's hip, trotting on our laps and zerberts!
• Emmett's grip is growing stronger every day. He sometimes grabs us on the shoulder so hard that it hurts! He's also started to grab his toes/socks and then playing with them.
• His new favorite toy is his book. It is soft and crinkly. Emmett loves to turn the pages and put them in his mouth. This toy is now in competition with his previous favorite toy - his ball.
• Emmett had his first official cold a few weeks ago. He had a terrible cough and a chest rattle. While we knew he wasn't feeling well, he was still all smiles! We called the doctor but there wasn't much we could do for him. Mommy's milk was his only medicine. He continues to struggle with getting over his cough.
• He is now really using his jumperoo. He no longer needs the support of a towel behind his back and has really begun to jump in it. This is definitely his favorite place to play on his own.
• We continue to work on sleeping through the night. With Emmett's cough and his teething it has been a challenging month. I am hoping he becomes more consistent sometime in the very near future.

Who Does Emmett Look Like? Part 2

This is the second edition of "Who Does Emmett Look Like?". You can look back at our first edition here.

Here are some pictures of Emmett at about 3 months.. and Mom and Dad at what we think may be about 3 months as well (but who really knows?!). :)

Rustin

Emmett

 Libby

We think he looks like Mommy AND Daddy! What do you think?

A Beautiful Day

at the park with my Dad! :)

The Clay County Fair

Last weekend we went to the Clay County Fair in Spencer, IA where my mom is originally from. My aunt and Grandpa still live there so it gave us the chance to visit them as well as spend some time with my cousin Melissa and her boyfriend Brent who came to Spencer for the fair as well. Rustin and I also went to the sprint car race at the fairgrounds on Friday evening. He wants me to let you know that Craig Dollansky picked up the win (for those of you who were wondering) in an exciting A main feature. :)

We purchased a new hat for Emmett at the fair. It was a little too big. They were out of infant sizes so I purchased the child size because it was so darn cute! However, yesterday we got a package in the mail from Grandma Pat who went online and ordered the infant size. I'll have to post a picture sometime soon of how cute he looks in it. :)

Here is a picture of Emmett from his first fair experience.

4 months!

Emmett turned 4 months old on September 16th!

Since his 3 month update..

• Emmett has a new tooth! We noticed it as a little white dot in his gums on September 16th and it continues to push its way through. The little guy has not been too miserable but has cried a few times where we didn't know what to do for him (which is very unusual!). We think it has been due to him teething (or toothing, if you will).
• On August 22nd he slept ALL the way through the night for the first time!! Mommy could not believe her eyes when she woke up at 6:30am. Daddy said - "what time did he get up?" Mom responded - "He didn't!!". His record has not been perfect since (we had a few rough nights in there getting up 2-3 times yet) but typically he gets up around once a night. The past few nights he has made it 9 hours straight. Fingers crossed that this continues or he stops getting up in the night all together! We are getting closer. :)
• It has been reported to us by our daycare that Emmett is now rolling over. We have yet to witness this event, but we haven't stopped trying to capture it on video since. Hopefully he will show Mom and Dad his new trick sometime soon!
• He is in the process of moving up to the 4-6 month room at daycare.
• Emmett survived his first outdoor photo shoot. He was able to get in a short nap in the morning and then was so tired in the afternoon he fell asleep during the shoot. He was a good sport through it all.

He has his 4 month doctor visit on Friday, so we'll have to update you on his stats!

Family Pictures

Check out our pictures on my friend Laura's blog here.

I can't wait to get all of the proofs back! She did an amazing job.

Ryan & Laurie's Wedding

Our good friends Ryan & Laurie were married last weekend.

They had a beautiful outdoor wedding in between some scattered showers.

4 long-time friends and former roommates..

The beautiful bride and groom..

It was only a few minutes later that I had the opportunity to "serenade" them. I sang during their ceremony on the only microphone available - the officiant's. It was a little akward but everything went ok! :)

We had a fun time at their reception sans little Emmett. He was in good hands between my family AND Rustin's. You can say he has a few people in his life that love him!

It was great to have a night away to spend with friends and witness the union of two very speical people!

Our friends Brian and Shari will be getting married within the next year as well..

We look forward to the blessed event!! :)

A Conversation with our Son

It seems that Emmett and his Daddy may have a language all their own.. :)

3 Months!

On August 16th Emmett Robert turned 3 months old! Recently Emmett has done a lot of growing and changing.

• Emmett has now officially outgrown his 3 month clothing.. on to 6 months. I hope he doesn't get so big that some of his fall outfits won't fit! I think he is weighing in around 14 pounds. He has also moved up to size 2 diapers.
• His sleeping habits have drastically improved, yay!! Emmett is now sleeping in 7 hour stretches almost every night. Mom is getting a LOT more sleep. Last night he slept from 9:15pm to 4:15am and then back up in the morning at 7:25am. So, he is really only getting up once during the night. It is great. :)
• Emmett has found his voice. He is making a ton of new noises lately. His favorite word was originally "AGoo" and while he still enjoys that word he has also introduced some other very interesting sounds. We enjoy our conversations with him.
• He has started to smile a lot. Unfortunately for Mom, Dad must be much more interesting because Rustin seems to have a way of making him smile AND laugh. It must be the way Dad smiles, dances, and sings to him. :)
• We finally found a pacifier that Emmett enjoys. The brand is Dr. Brown's. He has also learned to pacify himself by sucking on his hand.
• Emmett is now enjoying playing in the exersaucer and jumperoo both at home and at daycare. He is officially one of the "big boys" in his room (his room is for ages 6 weeks - 4 months).
• He has started to lengthen the time between feedings going up to 3.5 hours at times. This is much different than his usual 2 hour time limit.

It is a lot of fun having a 3 month old and especially one as easy to please as our son! He seems to be content almost all of the time. When he cries we almost always know just what he needs. I think we are starting to figure this parenting thing out.. :) We are looking forward to seeing what the next month's developments will bring for our little Emmett Robert!

Cousins & Sisters..

I think Henry and Emmett really enjoyed meeting eachother.

We learned a lot about the types of things we are likely be saying to Emmett when he is Henry's age such as..

Don't Bite!!

Don't Hit!!

And we already have some practice saying -

Look at the camera!!

Getting a good picture of the four of us was no small task. I guess we'll have to give it another try the next time we're together. Hopefully it gets easier as they get older!

First Day

August 1st was Mommy's first day back at work and Emmett's first full day of daycare (hence no posts for over a week, I"ll try to be better - I promise!!).

Daddy had the difficult job of dropping him off. Did you know that Moms going back to work can be pretty hard on Dads too?? :)

Luckily, you wouldn't know that from this picture. He held himself together pretty well.. we both did! It is bittersweet seeing your little man grow up afterall. :)

Emmett had a great day at Daycare. He learned some sign language, met some new friends, slept a lot, ate a lot, and went to the bathroom a lot. I guess you could say he was a pretty typical 11 week old! He didn't have much of a reaction when Mommy came to pick him up later that day. I'd like to think it was because he had so much fun learning new things that he was just distracted, but I'll admit that I know it's actually because he's too little to truly recognize his Mommy just yet. Give it some more time, I guess!

It seems like Emmett has done a lot growing and changing this last week but we'll have to update you on that soon when he turns 3 months in just under 10 days. Time flies when you are having fun!

Emmett's Baptism

Emmett's baptism was on Sunday July 17th 2011. It was a great day to welcome him into our church community and we were blessed to be surrounded by family.

The Rottinghaus Family

 

The Nelson Family

Congratulations to our sweet baby boy on his baptism!

We Survived

Three shots and one oral vaccine later.. Emmett and I survived his 2 month check-up with only a few tears (shed by him of course). The receptionist asked how I was holding up; apparantly it is the Moms who have the toughest time with the shots. Well, not this Mom. I knew he would be just fine. :)

He weighed in at 12lbs. 3oz. (57th percentile) and 24 inches long (81st percentile).

The Pouty Lip...

Looks like it is here to stay..

Emmett at about 1 month..

Emmett at about 2 months..



2 Months!

Our little man is now 2 months old! He has grown to be apx 12 pounds. He has his 2 month check-up tomorrow so I am anxious to see how long he is! A lot has been going on in his life recently...

• He is still wearing his 0-3 clothing but it is getting short/tighter depending on the brand. Most of them say that they are for 8.5-12 pounds - which would mean they should be getting small on him - but with his long figure he is just growing into some of them so we might be in 0-3 for a while yet. We'll see..
• Emmett has recently started to sleep in longer stretches. If I am lucky he has a morning and an afternoon nap now. Of course this all depends on the day.. but, it does make Mommy very happy since it makes it easier for me to get something (anything) done. Last night he slept from 10pm - 3am and then was up again at 6am. So he was only up twice. Technically it also means he is sleeping through the night since he slept for 5 hours straight. It is very exciting for Mommy and Daddy!
• He is learning to "coo" and make noises..
• He had his first "blow-out" at Grandma & Grandpa Rottinghaus' over the 4th of July. He went straight to the sink for a bath. It was a new experience for us.. and for him as well since he usually takes baths in his little baby tub at home. :) Of course we still love the little stinker.. even when he makes big messes!
• His first mole appeared a week or two ago just above his right knee. 
• He recently met his only cousin, Henry, as well as his Aunt Anne and Uncle Richard. Henry is a lot bigger (just turned 1 year old) and wilder than Emmett is. Watching him was so exciting it made Emmett very tired. He is looking forward to getting a little bigger so they can play together.
• Emmett is learning to smile more at Mommy and Daddy. He is particularly happy in the morning right after he has eaten breakfast. :) We like to lay in bed and talk and laugh together for a few minutes each morning.
• He has a new toy that he is able to grasp and hold on to - Mommy's rattle from when she was a little baby. Grandma Pat says that they just don't make them like they used to.. so she found Mommy's rattle in the basement and gave it to Emmett. He holds it and waves it around. We're still not sure if he's really aware of what he's doing with it. :)
• He has recently discovered his feet, toes, and hands. He likes to suck on his hands. Every once in a while we will catch him gazing at his toes in amazement. :)
• Emmett was recently baptized on July 17th. He also had his first party on July 16th - a shower in his honor at our house. We'll have to tell you more about these events a little later..

Preparing for a Busy Weekend

Emmett has been fighting going to sleep lately. Since he fell asleep while running a few errands this morning I decided just to keep him in the carseat at home so he can catch some more Z's in preparation for our busy weekend. We'll take it where we can get it at this point!

Have a great weekend!

Our Deck - Before and After

My hard working husband and father-in-law recently spent some time out on our deck - stripping, prepping and staining it. I did help one evening - inbetween feedings - while Rustin's sister Katrina watched Emmett. However, it was obvious that Rustin and his Dad did the bulk of the work - and it looked like hard work! I told the person helping me buy stain at Home Depot (on my third trip for my third can) that one of the benefits of having a newborn baby is that Mama doesn't have to stain the deck! :) Thankfully we have people in our lives who are willing to help us accomplish these types of tasks (Grandma and Grandpa Nelson and Aunt Katrina).

Here are the results:

Before...

And After!

I also have to give credit to Katrina for coming over earlier this summer to help Rustin plant some flowers. Without her our baskets would most likely still be empty!

We even purchased some new deck furniture. Again, this was from Home Depot. It was much less expensive since we waited until later in the season so it was on clearance.

Thanks to Rustin and his mom, dad, and sister we now have a beautiful deck to enjoy! Hopefully the stain will protect it so it lasts for many more years.

Smiles and a Toot

If you listen closly, Emmett shares a little something with us around 18 seconds. Sweet boy! :)

4th of July!

Charles City has a pretty big 4th of July celebration every year. So we went back not only to celebrate the 4th but also for my 10 year class reunion. It's hard to believe it has already been 10 years since high school but a lot has changed. There were a ton of new babies at the reunion.

It's not easy to get a good picture of four friends and their babies!

Notice that even when I turned in an attempt to get Emmett to look at the camera he didn't take his eyes off of Drew!

Two great dads!

Emmett and his new love interest, Gwen!

It was great to catch up with friends and also to visit my family. We were even able to sneak away for a few hours and leave the little one with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Frank. It was nice to have a little break and spend some time with my husband and friends :)

New Emmett Video

Emmett has recently been working towards standing up. Here is some footage of our little over-achiever. :)

1 Month Old

Our little man turned one month old on June 16th! Time has sure flown by. We are enjoying watching him grow and change. As of June 15th he weighed in at 9lbs. 10oz. He is a good little eater. He seems to be mostly gaining length and not a lot of girth. I guess we shouldn't be surprised by this considering that his mom and dad are both tall and lean (well.. mom is working on getting back to that). His newborn outfits are getting to be too short but most of his 0-3s are still a little too big around. We'll get there. :) He is losing his newborn look more and more everyday. It is a little sad but exciting. He still gets up around once every 3 hours at night to eat.. so that can wear a person down, but I think it is just part of raising a baby.

Emmett Robert, we love...

Your little half smiles that give us a glimpse into how fun your "real" smiles will actually be.

How content you are to snuggle up on one of our chests for a snooze.

That when you cry it is normally for a good reason (usually hungry or needs to burp).

Your beautiful skin that everyone comments on.

Your still full head of dark brown hair.

How we can see that your eyes are turning into what we think will be dark brown.

The way you perk up at the sound of Mom or Dad's voice.

Your loud toots and burps.

The way you grunt and stretch.

Your funny facial expressions.

The way you like to put your hands on your face at almost all times.

Looking forward with you to your future. :)

What we've been up to...

We attended our first wedding in Charles City. Mommy's cousin Ben got married.

I slept through most of it. I did, however, wake up to dance with my great aunt Rita with the rest of the Rottinghaus' (they say that I am one.. and look it, but also look a lot like Daddy!) to the song "We Are Family". That was a lot of fun. They are a wild bunch. :)

We attended Mom's cousin Melissa's graduation from dental school. That is where I met my great-grandpa Bill. I call him Bampa for short.

 I also met my second cousin Brayden. He is only 2 months and 16 days older than me.

As well as my second cousin Katelyn. She is 2 1/2. We all piled on Bampa's lap for a picture. I promise this was the only time that I wasn't very happy that day, other than when I was hungry of course.

Then we traveled to Wayland where I met my great-grandma Boshart. She was quite sweet on me.

Four generations..

So, that is some of what we've been up to lately. We have been busy and it is hard to get much done around here with me being hungry all the time!