Week 37

37 Weeks Old on 7/31/09

Last weekend we went up to Phoenix on Friday afternoon. About halfway up there the AC in our car stopped working. It was still cold air coming out, but it was barely blowing at all. It sucked. Once we arrived in Phx, we went to the California Pizza Kitchen to meet some friends for Jamie's birthday. Embry and Tony came in for about a half hour so Embry could give Jamie the sign she 'made' for her. After they got back to the car, I guess the AC decided to work again. It has been working good ever since, so let's pray it doesn't happen again. It's entirely too hot to not have AC. Then we spent the night at Tony's mom's house (Embry got a bottle of formula in addition to her bottle of milk cuz I hadn't pumped enough). I'm relaxing a bit on the whole formula thing. It's harder to pump now that my brother is living with us and if I don't have enough milk she'll just get some formula instead of me not going somewhere because there's not enough milk in the fridge. It's easier now to stretch out the milk since she eats baby food too. Although that never really seems to fully satisfy her. Anyhow, then we left on Saturday at about 11 to come home. We stopped at Arizona Mills on the way home and I did some shopping for Embry. Carters had about half the store on clearance and an extra 20% the clearance price. I had a hard time not buying EVERYTHING.

We went to Noah's 2nd bday party Sat evening in Tucson. It was great weather too. Windy and cloudy, so we weren't sweating up a storm. Embry enjoyed some cake frosting and riding on daddy's shoulders (her new favorite past time). We put her down 2 slides as well, she did not enjoy her thighs sticking to the plastic.

Sunday we went with some people from Young Marrieds to Mt Lemmon for a picnic and a walk around the 'lake'. It's more like a pond and I'm pretty ticked that there's no swimming allowed in any lakes in Tucson. We let Embry walk around on the edge of the water and she loved it as you can imagine. She's a water baby. :) Then Sunday night we went to church and in the nursery this girl told me that her aunt just had a baby girl and named her Embry, spelled the same and everything. Take that people who told me it was a dumb name! ;)

She really likes our friend's kid Noah. They get babysat together on Wed nights during young marrieds and this past Wed when he got dropped off, she saw him and immediately started shrieking at him. He was scared and hid behind his dad's legs. When we came home, the babysitter said that she chased him around all night squealing. Hehehe, I think that's so hilariously cute! I met Danielle and Noah at the mall yesterday for some shopping and Embry started screeching the second she saw Noah. Good times. :)

Embry can now crawl up 1 step. I was sitting watching TV and she was playing near the front door then I look back at her and she's on the bottom step whining because she can't get down. Looks like it's time to invest in some baby gates.

Last night I went with my sister to the presale at the Just Between Friends sale. I'd say that if you can't go to the presale it wouldn't be worth it to go unless you're just looking for clothes. I got a leapfrog music table, a fisher price activity push walker, mega blocks, and then other various toys, and a swimming suit/hat. This morning when I was feeding Embry on the couch she saw the new toys and kept eying them until I set her on the floor and she crawled right over to them to see what they were. I'm excited that she likes her new toys :)

Week 36

36 weeks old on 7/24/09

I'm really trying to get the blog done on Fridays, I really am, but it just doesn't seem to happen!

Embry and I had an interesting time in Costco this week. I went to get digital pictures printed, so I had to wait for an hour and look around the store in the mean time while the pics were being processed. Embry loves to scream in delight and she decided that Costco was just the place for it. She screamed and screamed and screamed. All happy, ear piercing screams, until I started clapping my hand over her mouth because people were giving me looks like, 'why don't you shut that kid up?' Then Embry got very upset and started screaming out of frustration. I wasn't about to leave without my pictures, so I tried to push the cart as fast as possible while looking at the ground avoiding eye contact with anyone. I tried to pretend that she didn't belong to me, but that's kind of hard when I'm the one pushing the cart. :/ Oh well, we made it out alive, although embarrassed.

Embry started stage 3 foods this week. They have little chunks of food in them instead of just mush. She seems to like them just fine as long as the words 'whole wheat' aren't in the flavor title. She will not even touch the 'garden vegetables with whole wheat pasta' or the 'chicken noodle.' We also got her some of the yogurt puff things which she likes a lot. I like them too!

She had a really bad night this week. She woke up at 2am and then cried until she went back to sleep around 5:15. In those 3+ hours I fed her 3 times and tried to lay her down in her crib twice, then we set up the play yard in our room, then finally moved it into our bathroom where she finally fell asleep. It was ridiculous. I was reminded of how it was having a newborn, not sure I would like to do that again. Now that more time has passed since having a newborn, it seems that it wasn't quite as bad as it was...although I know better...it was bad. As you can tell, I'm having conflicting thoughts about this more kids thing. We'll see.

Week 35

35 Weeks Old on 7/17/09

Oh my, I can't even remember what happened over the past week! Friday we took Embry out to eat with Kristy and John, then went shopping at Mayfair mall for a few hours before we had to be at Missy's rehearsal dinner. Embry was a sport throughout the long day and Mayfair had a nursing room that I got to use twice. She wasn't exactly happy at the rehearsal dinner, but she did enjoy playing with a cold can of diet rite and sucking the hair on a doggy in a touch and feel book.

Saturday we were going to Missy and Abe's wedding so Kristy and John babysat Embry from about 1pm-10:30pm. They took her to the zoo for the first time. I instructed them to take a lot of pictures and left my video camera with them to document the event. They said that Embry liked people watching more than animal watching and it was super crowded and hot so they left after an hour. After watching the video (good job guys!) I see that Embry was pretty interested in their fishtank and the fish are probably permanently traumatized from her smacking the side of their tank repeatedly. Oh, apparently she also enjoyed screaming at their dog and licking his fur. She went to bed at 8pm for them (which is 6pm our time)! Anyhow, I think that all parties involved were equally exhausted by the end of the day.

Sunday Embry went to her first baseball game (Brewers vs Dodgers). We 'tailgated' beforehand and then put her in the snugli and headed inside. We were on the club level (I think that's what it's called) and half of the level was in the shade and the other half wasn't...we were in the half that wasn't. These two very nice men offered to have Tony with Embry sit up in their seats in the shade until our seats became shaded to keep Embry out of the sun and heat. How sweet! After Tony came back to our seats Embry got restless so Kristy wore her in the Snugli and walked around inside. While doing so, someone stopped her and told her that her daughter was adorable and that she had Kristy's dimples. Kristy replied, 'thanks.' :) We left early and went to Kristy's granparent's house on Lac LaBelle in Oconomowoc. Embry loved the sand once again and was very persistent in trying to eat it. We went out on the pontoon boat where Embry expressed her dislike for the life jacket so much that I finally unbuckled the straps. Tony was holding her about halfway through the ride and lifted her up to find poo all over his swim trunks. We did not bring an extra swim diaper on the boat (my fault) so he just held her until we got back to shore where he took off her suit and her diaper. I had to get pics with naked baby and as we were snapping some photos she decided to pee on me. Luckily we had the lake to rinse everyone/everything off in. Kristy and I then buried Embry's legs in the sand to make her look like a mermaid. She didn't seem to mind.

Monday we went out to my aunt Linda's house. My cousins and their kids came out too and we made a day of it. Pretty much we just hung out, ate, and talked. Embry got to see the ponies (I think she wants one). I keep telling Tony if we got one that's under 5 ft then we could put it in the backyard and nobody would ever know! After that we went to Pewaukee lake and took some pictures.

Tuesday Embry turned 8 months old! We went to visit my friend Anne from high school. Her oldest, Kylie, seemed to like Embry quite a bit. We left Embry in the living room with Anne's kids when we first got there and then Kylie comes walking up to us holding Embry under the arms out in front of her, it was so funny! Anyhow, Embry really liked Anne's son Cade and kept screaming at him in excitement which basically scared Cade. Embry really knows how to make friends. Anne got Embry some puffs which she really really likes! We took the kiddos outside and let them play in the kiddie pool. Embry enjoyed putting every pool toy in her mouth, crawling in the water, turning in circles, and chasing a ball around the pool. Then we stopped at Pewaukee lake again for more pictures.

Wednesday we took Embry to meet my great Aunt Joyce and Uncle Al. She really liked their dog and kept grabbing his face fur and pulling as hard as she could. The dog was really funny because he kept picking up his dog toy and dropping it on Embry for her to throw. We also took her to see my aunt Tammy and cousin Chris that day. Tammy had lots of toys to keep Embry amused while we chatted. Then we went to the Waukesha county fair with Kristy and John. Embry went to her first petting zoo and went on her first carousel ride. She liked them both ok, didn't seem thrilled with either one. When we were leaving we went into the cow barn and set her in some straw for pictures near the cows. She didn't like it. After the first straw encounter she wanted nothing to do with it so when we took her over to another cow to pet it she started screaming thinking we were setting her in the straw again. Who can blame her? Nobody said straw was comfortable.

Thursday we had breakfast with Michelle before we caught our plane in Chicago. On the car ride to Chicago Embry decided to have a screaming fit for about a half hour. Then once we got to Chicago the traffic was horrible, so the car ride was a lot longer than we would have liked. We got to our gate just as they started boarding, but tony had to get gate check tags for the carseat, stroller, and play yard. He waited in line while I sat down with Embry and a lady across from me told me that Embry looked just like me. The plane ride was fine although an hour longer than on the way to WI. Embry fell asleep sometime in the middle after having a bottle of apple juice (never tried that one before) but only slept for maybe a half hour. Towards the end of the flight she was getting really antsy so I let her look out the window which was a mistake. She got so excited she started screaming. I'd quick put my hand over her mouth and shove some food in, but then it just sounded like a muffled scream, not a good sound on an airplane.

1808 pictures later, we're back from Wisconsin!

Week 34

34 Weeks Old on 7/12/09

So I'm super late posting this, sorry.

For the 4th of July weekend Tony's mom came down to visit. On Friday we mainly just hung out and I made some dinner, then went to run a few errands with Sarah. At Costco I found a pack of books for Embry that were Hello Kitty books so I just had to get them! That night I tried my hand at a korker headband (which involves wooden dowels covered in ribbon to go into the oven). Then on the 4th of July we put Embry in her outfit and headband and took lots of pics of her with little American flags I got for her. She really wanted to eat the flags or poke her eyes out with them, she wasn't too great at just holding them. We also went swimming for a while, which is always fun. We went to a young marrieds party that night and we drove to watch some fireworks afterwards but Embry had fallen asleep on the car ride so she didn't get to see them. I don't think she would have really cared much for them anyhow. So Embry's first 4th of July was a success.

She started pulling herself up all on her own this week. I had put her down for a nap, then she woke up but I needed to do my hair and makeup so I put some toys in her crib with her and brought the monitor with me. Then she was fine for a while, then started getting louder and louder, so I walked in there to find her standing up in her crib looking at me with the biggest smile on her face. She was so proud of herself. What a big girl! She also pulled herself up on the side of the couch. I got it on my video camera, but when I tried to get it with the digital she did a swirl and a fell onto the floor, which also made for an interesting video but not the one I was hoping for. We're now in WI and yesterday she pulled herself up on Kristy's coffee table, then proceeded to scoot around the outside edge of it.

Speaking of WI, we're here! We made in one piece and I didn't even need to have a breakdown on the plane ride! Woohoo! Embry did better than I thought she would on the plane ride and I think what really made it easier was the fact that I didn't need to use my nursing cover to feed her. My top shirt was rather flowy so I could unsnap my nursing tank top and feed her without anyone seeing anything and just using my shirt to cover up. When I use the cover sometimes she tries to rip it off so I get all paranoid and nervous even if she's behaving herself under it. I had gotten her some cheap new toys to play with on the plane because then they'd be novelties but she wasn't very interested in them. She was however enthralled with an empty mt dew bottle and a cup. She enjoyed throwing things onto the floor for her dad to pick up repeatedly and playing peekaboo with the poor asian guy sitting next to us. He was a good sport. Luckily she didn't cry at all and only shrieked with joy a couple of times. :) There was another couple on the plane with a little girl and then a 10 month old baby who were joking about how when their baby made noise they were going to point toward us and when ours made noise we could point to them. I thought it was cute. We had quite a time trying to fit all our luggage and accessories into a compact car that we rented. We brought 4 suitcases (2 very large), a duffle bag, a laptop, a stroller, a carseat, and a play yard. Luckily we flew into Midway instead of O'Hare because the rental cars are at the airport at Midway instead of offsite like O'Hare. I could just see us trying to get all that stuff onto a shuttle to go to the rental car, haha.

We stopped at the 'Welcome to WI' sign on the way up from Illinois and got bit my a million mosquitoes. Poor Embry was being swarmed. Oh yes, so I got her out of the carseat for the picture and showed her back to tony to ask if there was any poo, he said he didn't see any, so I walked her up the hill a little ways with my arm under her booty. Then I look and I had squished all the poo from her diaper up her back. I wasn't about to take her out of her cute WI onesie before getting my picture though, so we changed her afterwards. Booyah, I win. Then we ate at Culvers which was delic as always. Embry really wanted some, but she's too little. Poor baby, she's missing out.

Thursday we went to Minooka park (just down the road from here) and took Embry to a natural body of water for the first time. I wouldn't say it's a lake, it's more of a pond. Before we left we put Embry into her swim diaper and swimming suit and then got our suits on. While we were getting ready, she pooed all over her suit and the pad in her play yard. We got Culvers on the way and had a picnic while Embry ate, I mean played with, the grass. Then we took her in the water and she had a good time eating, I mean playing with the sand. She pretty much loved it. After realizing that I had forgotten to pack dry underwear, we took a walk around the pond at which point Embry fell asleep.

Days on Vacation: 2
# of outfits pooed on: 2
Amount of sand eaten: indefinite

Week 33

33 Weeks Old on 7/3/09

Embry started crawling this week! She didn't just kind of crawl either, she went all out and crawled across the living room numerous times. I was in the shower at the time and Tony came in with a big smile on his face and said that he thought I should hurry up. So I looked out of the shower and asked if he was having a problem or something and he goes, 'your baby can crawl!' I immediately asked him to take some video and, being the good husband that he is, he already had. He said that he was sitting on the floor reading a book next to her and she was on her hands and knees so he started patting her booty and she crawled forward. She's scrawling up a storm now, but occasionally reverts back to her army crawl. She can also stay standing holding onto something (like the coffee table) and today she pulled herself up onto just her knees and stayed there for a little while. She's gotten really good at occupying herself for a long time by just crawling from toy to toy and playing on the floor. It makes my life easier. Oh she will also walk for a long time while holding onto our fingers. She takes really big steps and gets all excited. Recently she started blowing raspberries and has decided it's really fun to do that while walking.

I sat down and made some baby headbands this week. I found stretchy white lace at JoAnn Fabric (in the past they said they didn't carry any, I'm not fond of their sales people). So I got a bunch of that and made a few headbands for friend's babies and make a couple new ones for Embry. On Friday I experimented and attempted my first korker headband to match Embry's 4th of July outfit and it turned out perfect. I was really excited that it looked so good. I figured I'd set the house on fire trying to make the ribbons curl in the oven, but I didn't.

We leave on Wed for Wisconsin and I'm getting increasingly nervous about the airplane ride. I saw a clip from Jon and Kate plus 8 where all her kids were having a meltdown on the plane and Kate just buried her head in her hands and started crying...that's going to be me. I told Tony that if she starts screeching, he will be able to find me in the airplane lavatory, hiding. Wish us luck!