January 23, 2020

Emerald Catherine | 21 Months

Emmy is now 21 Months old, time is flying and I am trying to hold onto everything that makes this time so magical. Emmy is so silly and fun and full of personality. She still loves her mommy most in the world and often needs cuddles (I LOVE it).

There was so much to celebrate in the last three months. Emmy loved dressing up as Tinker Bell for Halloween. She really seemed to have fun trick-or-treating.

We missed Thanksgiving due to the flu this year and that was a bummer, but at least we were together and made the most of it.

We had a very merry Christmas and it was so fun, Emmy loved opening presents this year. It was a big improvement last year when she didn’t get to enjoy it because she was very sick.

We then celebrated New Years with friends with found thoughts of how great 2019 was.

EAT

Emmy is pretty open to eating most things now and is very good at feeling herself but she is so very messy. I am constantly trying to get stains out of her clothes.

Unfortunately she has taken to throwing her food and utensils on the floor and saying “uh-oh”.

I remember Cannon doing the same thing around this age so we just have to wait it out.

SLEEP

Sleep was a bit of a rollercoaster for Emmy the last few months. When we were in Europe Emmy just slept in bed with one of us or in her car seat.

When we got home Emmy had a hard time adjusting to sleeping alone in her crib again. There were a few weeks where she was not sleeping through the night and needed to be cuddled a lot. Luckily she adjusted back and is now sleeping through the night in her crib and can self soothe again.

Emmy goes to bed between 6:30-7:00 PM at night and wakes up between 6:00-6:30 AM. She also takes one nap a day in the afternoon. Many days her nap is only about an hour but once and awhile we get lucky with one that is over two hours.

GROW

Emmy is communicating more and more in the last few months, she knows so many words and loves to be understood. She can’t exactly say Cannon yet so she calls him “Ann-on” it’s so cute.

Cannon and Emmy are still best friends, and I really hope it stays that way.

Emmy has also come a long way in terms of learning to enjoy snow lately.

PLAY

In November we signed Emmy up gymnastics at first she didn’t participate much and just wanted to run around wild. Now she loves doing what her coach tells her to do. She isn’t a fan of the foam pit yet but I think in a few more sessions she might start to like it.

Emmy loves to be outside as much as possible and we try to get out for hikes whenever possible.

She loves playing at the playground when we pickup/drop off Cannon at school.

Going on adventures.

And playing at the museum, gym and friends’ houses.

She is silly and sweet and we couldn’t love her more.

Past Monthly Updates

April 8, 2019

Emerald Catherine | 11 Months

Over the past month things have been a little more quite for us after lots of traveling early in the year. Emerald enjoyed having lots of time to play and work on her crawling/walking skills. Now we will be spending our time getting ready for Emmy’s first birthday party {tears}!

At ten months Emerald is wearing size 4 diapers, and is wearing mostly 12 month size clothes we will be moving to size 18 month pants soon because she is so tall!

EAT

We are making so much progress on eating, Emmy is really enjoying food more and more. Emmy is less and less interested in her bottle and we have started trying to transition her away from her bottle and into sippy cups. We still haven’t been successful getting her to hold her own bottle, any tips?

SLEEP

Sleep is still going great. Emmy sleeps from 6:30 or 7:00 pm to 6:30(ish) most days. She had some teething troubles (four teeth coming in all at once) where she didn’t sleep well for a couple nights but cuddles and Tylenol helped.

We have dropped down to two naps a day and that seems to work well for us and our schedule. She is really good about cuddling to sleep or self soothing.

GROW

Emmy just so much fun, almost always happy and loves playing with her brother.

She is constantly on the go, crawling and cruising everywhere.

She is also walking everywhere with assistance.

PLAY

This past month seems like the end of winter play. Emmy really liked the snow and sledding.

She doesn’t seem to mind but I am sure getting sick of our regular indoor play areas and feel ready for parks and backyard time.

Next month will be her one year update and I feel really emotional about it. Time has flown so fast and I can’t believe that she won’t be a baby anymore. At the same time I can’t believe that just a year ago she wasn’t here to make us all so happy. She really is a joy and light.

Past Monthly Updates

February 20, 2019

Emerald Catherine | 10 Months

I really didn’t think that things could get any better than last month when we celebrated Emerald’s first Christmas but this month has been even more magical. We had so much fun this last month and Emerald just adds so much light and happiness to our lives.

This month was full of adventure with a quick trip to Moab for a half marathon for me and a trip to Disneyland. Emmy was such a champ with all the traveling and schedule changes.

At ten months Emerald is 28.75 inches long (72% ) and 19 lbs 8 oz (63%) BMI 49%. Emmy is wearing size 3 diapers, and is wearing mostly 9 or 12 month size clothes but 9 month clothes are all reaching their end so I will have to put them away soon. I have a feeling we are headed for a growth spurt soon.

Also getting these monthly photos is getting harder and harder, all she wants to do is move and play with her stuffed animal.

She sure has changed the last ten months!

EAT

Eating is still coming along slowly for Emmy, she is eating soft solids when we feed her. She still isn’t feeding herself or holding her own bottle so we are working on that and hope that she will start making progress soon. Even though she won’t feed herself the food we give her she is always trying to steal her brother’s snacks.

SLEEP

Sleep is mostly going well. We have a really good routine with our daytime naps, she is still taking three a day. I love that she is on a good routine but I am also looking forward to working down the number of naps so we can be out and about more. It would also be nice to get her to sleep in longer and skip the morning nap. Most days she is up between 5:00 and 5:30 am. 6:30 to 7:00 would be nicer.

While we were traveling Emmy did a great job of napping on the go mostly in her stroller or in the Beco carrier.

While on our trip to Moab we learned that Emmy was NOT going to sleep in the pack n play so we knew not to bother bringing it to California. She was very happy to get to snuggle every night. I am surprised she slept at all in her crib when we got home.

GROW

Emmy is loving her independence now that she can crawl wherever she wants to go.

he is also constantly pulling herself up and has even started walking with push toys so I am not sure how much longer we have until she is walking.

Another big development this month is the appearance of teeth, or a tooth.

I like to call her fang since one of her upper teeth decided to come in all on it’s own. It’s normal but very uncommon for kids to get top teeth first, most get their bottom teeth first. Cannon also got his top teeth first so I guess it’s just in our genes. There are four top teeth about to come in and just a couple days ago one (just one!) bottom tooth popped through.

Emmy had a follow up eye appointment this month to be sure that her eyes are developing correctly. I was so excited to hear that everything looks good with her vision. This doesn’t mean that she won’t ever need glasses but her eyes are developing as they should so that makes us happy.

PLAY

Emmy had fun visiting Moab this month and hanging out with her cousins.

She is such a relaxed baby and just wants to hang out with her people.

I wasn’t sure how she would react to Disneyland. I was afraid she would be overwhelmed with all the noise and chaos and being away from everything she is used to. But she loved it! She loved the music, and people, and cuddles.

I loved taking Emmy to Disneyland and I can’t wait to do it again. Recaps from our trip HERE and HERE

We got to celebrate Valentine’s Day this month and it’s even more fun now that we have two kids to shower with love.

Emmy loved her card from her grandparents and going to a valentines party with Cannon.

We had one day with temperatures in the 50s so we ran out to the park to play while we could. I didn’t put her in warm enough pants to play in the sand so she is wearing Cannon’s back up pants that I keep in the diaper bag, haha! She loved playing outside with her brother so much. I can’t wait until spring/summer when we can get out to the parks more!

Past Monthly Updates

June 18, 2018

Emerald Catherine | 1 Month

How quickly time goes by when you have a newborn, it’s like living in a tunnel where very little else is happening other than keeping these little ones alive.

At one month Emerald is 22 inches long (89%) and 9lbs 9oz (64%)

She is just the sweetest little thing and like most newborns she spends all her time eating and sleeping

Towards the end of the month we started getting more awake time. I am so excited to get to know this little girl more and more.

EAT

We are trying to do exclusive breast feeding for as long as we can. I was so hopeful that if I didn’t hemorrhage with this birth that I would have a much easier time with my milk supply. I didn’t hemorrhage this time (YAY!!!!) but I still had the same issues of my milk not coming in for many days and not having quite enough to keep emerald full. She lost a little too much weight in her first few days so we needed to supplement again.

At the doctor checking on her weight

Over the last month we have been able to cut out most supplementation with mostly the same strategies I used last time with Cannon.

Guys…..breastfeeding is hard, especially with a toddler to care for as well, I am just going to keep working at it.

SLEEP

Sleep is going pretty well given that we have a newborn. Emerald started out waking up every couple of hours and we were in a bit of sleep deprivation haze.

sleepy newborn days…

Please note the coffee on the windowsill.

By the end of her first month we have made it to 3-4 stretches of sleep (woot-woot), I feel like that’s pretty good. Fingers crosse she is sleeping through the night by 3-4 months.

Just like Cannon she hates being swaddled and is just so so about a pacifier.

GROW

Other than physically growing (did you see that 89th percentile for length? apparently we make tall kids) there isn’t too much new for little Emmy. Right now she is just getting used to life on the outside.

First walk as a family of four

PLAY

Things are much different than when Cannon was this little and he really was my only concern, now little Emerald has to tag along as we try to keep big brother Cannon entertained. Cory took three full weeks off (then is doing two weeks of half days to transition back to work).

This month has included lots of walks with big brother

Snuggles with everyone

and lots of love!

December 20, 2016

Cannon // 6 Month Check In

Over the weekend we celebrated Cannon’s half birthday. Time is flying and Cannon is learning and growing so fast!

He is now 17 lbs 5 oz (46%) and 27 in (67%)

Over the last month we got to run our first Turkey Trot 5k as a family and celebrate Cannon’s first Thanksgiving. While Cannon didn’t get to try any of the food he really seemed to enjoy the run

He can now sit up completely unassisted and rolls both ways. He still can fit into most of his 3-6 month clothes but all his pants are a little short on him so he will be moving to 9 month clothes soon. It does make me sad to pack up his stuff as he out grows it but it’s just so fun to watch him grow.

It has been pretty cold this last month so we haven’t been able to get out on as many walks and runs as I would like but when we do get a chance Cannon loves the snow so much. I may have to learn to ski or snowboard just so I can take him.

Just a little snow day goofin’ Love this little guy so much ❤️❄️️❤️ #snowday #cannon #cmcn

Cannon also met Santa for the first time, no tears this year, but I bet we aren’t so lucky next year.

Luckily for me, just in the last week naps seem to be getting a little better. Hopefully this trend will keep going and we will have more of a consistent napper. We continue to be spoiled with overnight sleep between 10-12 hours every night!

We are about to start eating solids after being exclusively breast fed for the last 6 months, I think Cannon is more than ready!

Now we are just waiting for Santa to visit. My heart is exploding with joy over celebrating Christmas with my little family.

Waiting for Santa #Cannon #cmcn #6monthsold

Past Monthly Updates:

November 21, 2016

Cannon // 5 Month Check In

Cannon just turned 5 months old!

He is now 16 lbs 12 oz (53%) and 26.5 in (73%)

This was such a fun month for us! Cannon is such a sweet happy little boy. He always greets me with a smile and loves to cuddle and play. It is SO much fun to be his mom, I love it more than I could have imagined.

The biggest change this month for us was that I left my full time job to spend more time with Cannon. We put Cannon in daycare when I went back to work originally and we loved the “school” we sent him to but things weren’t as good as could have been. I felt like I barely had any time with Cannon and my life revolved around, bottles. Cleaning bottles, filling bottles, packing bottles, pumping into bottles and repeat. One of the difficult things was that Cannon does not take a bottle well, he won’t eat much from a bottle and complains the entire time he is eating. While he was eating okay, thinking about how my baby wasn’t as happy as he could be was really difficult for me. After lots of tears and long conversations we decided it would be best for me to leave my job and work part-time from home.

We also celebrated Cannon’s first Halloween. My parents bought him a beautiful polar bear costume but it was SO HOT in October that we had to go with a back-up pumpkin costume.

Cannon rolled over for the first time this month and sat up unassisted just this last week. It’s so fun to watch him grow, develop and learn.

We had a big sleep regression this month. Cannon had been sleeping well at night between 6 and 8 hours straight. Then after 4 months he started having trouble sleeping through the night. We hadn’t planned on moving him into his own room to sleep until around 6 months, but we were waking him up at night so it seemed like the right time to move him. Sleep was still not great so I got the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby The book has helped a lot and we have gotten up 11 hours of sleep overnight. Our naps are still very short so hopefully we can keep improving on that! Any mamas out there have tips on how to consolidate naps? We are only getting about 30-45 minutes at a time.