3 Months!!!

It is very hard for me to believe that my sweet little Emeline is 3 months today. At times, I feel like we only brought her home yesterday! She is such a sweet little girl with the sweetest smile.

A lot is going on with this little girl. She is on a 4 hour schedule and takes 3 long naps a day. She has been sleeping through the night from 8pm to 8 am for about two weeks now. Mommy loves it!!! I also love that when I walk into her room first thing in the morning or after a nap Emeline has the biggest smile!

Em has also become very independent. She just loves to lay in the floor and look around. She also loves her Jenny Jump. We will hang it from a door way and she spins herself and looks around. She loves to examine her surroundings.

I cannot believe that a quarter of Em's first year has already gone by. We can't wait to watch her continue to grow and develop her personality.

Hello To My Houston Family!!!

Today I took some video of Emeline playing in her activity jumper. She was too cute. We started talking about her family down in Houston. So here is the video, it is about 2 minutes. I couldn't come up with a more appropriate ending.

Yes, I know that Em is only 2 months old and I have her in her jumper but, look at her she does pretty good. I do have to put some blankets in there with her for added support. She looks like she enjoys it. And yes, I know I need to work on my camera skills.

So many blessings....

This past year, Justin and I were blessed with the birth of our first child. What an amazing gift from God. We continue to fall more in love with her each day. We were not the only ones blessed. No, several of our friends were blessed as well.

Thank you Lord for the gift of each of the following babies....

• Emeline Dillard
• Jackson Green
• Whittaker Waters
• Piper Taylor
• Parker Brann
• Claire Davison
• Virginia Houston
• Sarah Maerschel
• Mason Gross
• William Taylor
• Drew Alderton (Christmas Eve Baby)
• And any others that I missed

and Lord, we pray for those on the way....

• Baby Coward
• Baby Schlieder
• Baby Garcia
• Rylan Mitchell
• and any others that I might not know about yet!

To close out the post here is a picture of Emeline, Allison Green, Jackson Green and me. I think Jackson was about 5 weeks in this picture and Em was 2 months. Yes, I know that she is a big girl.

December in a Nutshell

The Dillard family was very busy over Christmas. We started on Christmas Eve at my Aunt and Uncle's house then Christmas morning at my parents, followed by a short drive to Houston for Christmas dinner with Drew and Erin. Then, we kept the celebration going on the 26th with the Payne family and topped it off with one final get together on the 28th with Justin's sister and her kiddos. We were so busy that we didn't take to many pictures. So, here are a few.

Just about everyone at Aunt Vicki and Uncle Mike's.

Chandler showing Em and my dad his new toy. If you look closely you can see Em's green legs.

I think this one is from the church Christmas Party.

Showing off what Santa brought Em.

And, she is done!

To keep with the theme...here is one last picture of Em snoozing with Gram.

December 2009 Update

Yes, I know that I am getting really bad about posting. I will make it part of my New Year's resolutions. I will explain why this is possible below.

Emeline is doing very well. Growing big girl. She turned 9 weeks old yesterday. At her two month appointment she was 12 lbs 7 oz and 23 3/8 inches long. That puts her in the 85% percentile in both height and weight. I told you she was a big girl. She is now in size 2 diapers and has moved into 3-6 months clothes. She amazes me how she keeps growing and so fast.

Her growth is probably attributed to how much she eats. She is now eating 6 oz every 4 hours, so 30 oz a day. Sometimes, I let her go longer if we have somewhere to go or she is just so sound asleep. She wakes up eats and plays and is ready for her next nap 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours later. She gets pretty feisty if she doesn't get her sleep. Oh, and I am happy to report for the past week and a half Em has been sleeping through the night. Not just the 6 hours that they talk about in the books but, 8 to 9 hours. We do a dream feed around 11/11:30 and she then sleeps until 7 or 8. This makes me very happy! I forgot how much I like my sleep. As I mentioned above, Em has settled into a 4 hour schedule and takes anywhere from 2 to 2 1/2 hour naps. This is much nicer than the 45 minute naps she was taking. This made it impossible to get anything done. Not to mention she wouldn't nap in her crib, she had to be held. Now, we nap in our crib. Mommy is so happy. Granted this has only been going on for a week, I plan on keeping this up.

Miss Em has already started showing us her personality. From day one she had these stern looks and would put her hand to her face and ponder in deep thought. Now, she has expanded her expressions with smiles. Just this week I get lots of smiles and she has started cooing at me. I love it!!! I can't to see what expression she makes next.

Not only am I tardy in posting here, I have yet to get out the birth announcements or Christmas Cards. The birth announcements will be going out in the next few weeks but, we are not going to send out Christmas Cards this year. So, to make up for it I hope everyone enjoys this picture of Em with Santa. She was such a good girl. No smile but, still a cute little girl.

Oh, and an update on Rosie and Daisy. They are doing good. They have quickly adjusted to having Emeline around. During the day they help me put her down for her naps and each take turns checking on her from her door while she sleeps. I think it is just too cute!!! They love being Em's big sister.

Crazy Mom

Today I had my first crazy mom moment. For about a week and a half Em has been spitting up after eating. Yes, I know that every baby spits up but, this was a large amount. And she would be fussy while she was being burped. So, I made an appointment to see the doctor. The doctor told me this was not a crazy mom appointment and that I was behind schedule for my crazy mom appointment. He made me feel so much better.

Good news is she is not losing weight. In fact she is gaining weight. She weighed 11 lbs 4 oz. So since her 2 week appointment she has gained approximately 1.4 oz per day. The average baby gains about 1 oz per day.

The doctor said she looked really good and thinks that we might be experiencing some colic. He said we should expect to see this go away by the time she is 2 months; both the fussiness and the spitting up. In the meantime he prescribed baby Zantec. Hopefully, this will help.

She is also a very strong girl. She loves to stand up in our laps and look around. She is very active with her eyes and loves to look around. The doctor also said that with as active and inquisitive as she is we should see her smile at us any day now. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Emeline's first month

Emeline was a month old on Sunday, November 15th. Below are a few pictures of her first month.

A very pretty smile.

Taking a nap while visiting Gram at work.

Napping with Grandpa.

Halloween Outfit #1.

Halloween Outfit #3. Her 2nd outfit was a pumpkin costume. My dad has the good pictures of this outfit.

Such a cutie!

First month stats:

At her 2 week check-up she was 9 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches. She is currently on a 3 hour schedule during the day. I still have to wake her up from her naps to feed on the 3 hour schedule. She is having difficultly going down for naps. She wants to be held. This has a lot to do with the fact that Justin likes to hold her and nap with her on the weekends. So, we are learning to go down for a nap still awake and self soothing, via the Ferber method.

At night once she is asleep she usually sleeps 4 hours wakes to feed and then sleeps another 4 hours. So, I get a good 6 hours of sleep at night and usually get an hour nap in during the day.

She is very strong and already stands-up in my lap and has pretty good head control although gets tired and will flop about if I am not careful. We try and take daily walks and loves her baths!

A few more pictures.

She was napping like this one day!

Her favorite; bath time!!!