Week 24

24 Weeks old on 5/1/09

Boy oh boy, a lot has happened this week for Embry!

She can roll over towards her left now. I think this is partially due to the fact that I have been placing her head towards the window in the nursery at night. I guess babies like to turn towards the door and this way the door is to her left. Now we often find her rolled over and her little legs stuck inbetween the slats on the crib. I'm hoping it doesn't actually hurt her, but I worry that she'll be in there and in pain and I will just think she's fussing because she's on her tummy.

She has rolled from her stomach to her back a few more times. She'll lean over really far to one side with the top half of her body and you can just nudge her a little and she'll flip onto her back, but she's still having a hard time doing it herself.

She started eating 'real' food. On Wed night after young marrieds we gave her half a jar of carrots. The ped said to start with veggies cuz they're less likely to eat veggies if they eat fruit first (I know I wouldn't). She still doesn't quite grasp the idea of moving the food to the back of your mouth with your tongue and then swallowing it, which made for a very messy experience. I got her a space saver type high chair that attaches to a dining room chair, so most of the mess was on her, her bib, and the high chair tray, but some landed on her clothes as well as my clothes too. Verdict is: she LOVES carrots. It was so cute, she would kick her legs and flail her arms and open her mouth all wide while she leaned forward to try to get more carrots. I got some great pics too, with my new camera, that are now posted on facebook. Things like food on a kid's face used to really gross me out, but with my kid, it was just cute.

Wed night was the first time Embry was babysat by an actual 'babysitter,' as in someone we don't know. We hired two girls from Katie's English class at Empire to alternate babysitting every Wed night for our young married's group. When we came to pick up Embry, she was sleeping in her bouncer and I asked the sitter if Embry did any screaming for her and she goes, 'yes, she did. I've never heard anything quite like that.' Ha, I thought that was funny. I'd say the sitter did a good job. Embry was fed and burped and asleep and Noah was also in bed, so she gets an A+ from me. We're trying out the other girl next week and I'm thinking we'll like her just as much.

She can say 'dada' and 'baba' and 'blah blah' yet still no 'mama.' It doesn't really bother me, but then, it kinda does. I mean, I'm here all day with her and then she goes and says 'dada' first! Some would say it doesn't count because she doesn't know that Tony is 'dada' but a word is a word, right? So maybe 'mama' will be her first word associated with a person, that would make me happy. :)

I had a horrible experience taking Embry to a babyshower on Tuesday. It was one of those moments where you think, 'there's no way I could do this again.' Basically she was fine in the beginning, but then I think there were so many people there, including a bunch of kids that she kinda went over the edge. She started doing her screaming thing. She does this all day at home, but at home it's only me and Tony who hear her and the occasional visitor, so it doesn't really matter. Basically she makes very shrill screams because she's excited and she likes hearing the sound of her voice. So she did this at the shower and everyone was looking at me and commenting on it. I'm guessing it didn't actually bother anyone except for me...and it bothered me a LOT. I tried shoving toys in her mouth or covering her mouth with my hand, but it didn't work, so finally I just put her in her carrier and said, 'sorry, gotta go' and quickly left. Then of course I started crying as soon as I got outside cuz I'm a big baby. Ugh, I hate moments like that. Then once we started driving away she fell asleep and stayed asleep for a whole grocery shopping trip.

Embry spent her first night away from her parents on Sat night. Tony and I went camping with the Young Married's group and thought it would be easier without Embry, so we left her with my parents overnight. My parents said that she did really well, but I guess I'll never know how it really went since I wasn't there. I called a couple of times to see how things were going and she was crying a bit, but she will cry everytime I leave the room, so I'm assuming she did the same thing with my mom. I pumped a bunch to try and get enough milk for when we were gone, and then one of the bags (one feeding's worth) leaked on the way to my parent's house. When I saw that, I seriously almost cried. It seems trivial, but it's a lot of work to get 5 ounces of milk. I guess that's why it's called 'liquid gold.' Anyhow, I also brought along a can of powdered formula and for the last 2 feedings my mom mixed 2 oz formula with 3 oz breastmilk to make it last. Apparently Embry didn't mind the formula at all and I didn't even notice any difference in the smell of her poo. So she has officially had formula now and I don't feel nearly as bad about it as I thought I would. We stayed out at my parent's house after we got back from camping and my brother and 2 of his kids (Oasis and Harbour) came out to visit. The girls really liked playing with Embry and luckily my neice Oasis told us, 'there's poo dripping down her leg.' So my mom picked Embry up which forced a bunch of poo to come out the top of her diaper and drip onto another spot on the carpet. It was everwhere. Tony cleaned up the carpet while my mom cleaned Embry's clothes and I changed her diaper.

My sister Jen, her husband Jason, and their 1-year-old son Colter moved to Tucson. They arrived last night and will be staying with my parents for a little while. I'm so excited to see them, to get to know Colter, and mostly for Embry and Colter to grow up together since they're only 7 months apart. We used to hang out a ton when we lived in WI. Pretty much every Sunday we would go to the movies, or to eat, or to the mall, or the beach...those are some of my most favorite memories. Now we get to make all new memories with our little kiddos too!