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 :)