Emmy Lou's Adventures: Busy Bees

Greetings family and friends. I apologize for not posting for awhile. It has been busier than usual around here. Emmeline is doing very well, despite our busy schedules. She is sleeping A LOT better! Her nighttime sleep and naps have definitely gotten longer and more "regular." She is taking 2-3 naps a day; if her first 2 naps are a good length (about one hour each) she will not need the third nap. We have been doing a bedtime routine with her and suggesting an earlier bedtime. She sometimes wakes up two to four times for a snuggle before she is down for good, but it depends on the night. We haven't figured out why she does this. Maybe we are being too loud or the cats wake her? Thankfully she usually just needs to be picked up for about five minutes before we can lay her back down. Tonight she has been down for over two hours and we have not heard a peep out of her. Friday night she slept 12 hours straight but last night she woke up once to nurse. She has been very good, though, about nursing and going right back into her crib. Sometimes she is completely awake when I lay her down but she will fall asleep on her own. We never let her "cry it out;" if she fusses for more than a few minutes, we pick her up. But since she is a thumb-sucker, she can self-sooth a little bit. We have tried all this stuff before but it never worked. For some reason she is just getting the hang of it now.

We have introduced her to sweet potatoes and pears. Pears are a bit weird for her (especially when in chunks...see pics below) but she loves loves loves sweet potatoes. She is very excited to eat solids and usually giggles through the entire meal. Lately she can "dance" on cue; she shakes her head up and down, wiggles her body, and claps her hands. So many exciting developments! We still need to find some baby gates...it won't be much longer before she will be cruising around. She actually got into my teaching bag the other day. I had it propped up out of the way and didn't think twice about it. I tried to do a couple things at the computer around the corner and had her on the living room floor with her toys. When I peeked in on her she had tipped over my bag and had emptied my pencil bag. She had pencils, pens, markers and paper clips (!) spread everywhere. I freaked out a little bit and checked her mouth for little objects but thankfully didn't find anything. She was happy has a clam in the middle of that mess, but she so easily could have poked her eye or choked on something. I still feel guilty about that little incident.

Our household schedule has been pretty busy as the winter session ended for me on Feb. 6 but I did not finish up grading exams until Feb. 13. I had the flu on the weekend of the 9th and 10th and for obvious reasons it was a real bummer. I was not able to interact with Emmeline as much as usual so Paul really had to pick up the slack. I didn't want her to get sick but I still nursed her. So far she hasn't exhibited any sick signs, though Paul today has a cold. Ug. The spring semester started on the 11th so I will now be teaching only one evening a week from 6-9. We had a bit of an ice storm on the 12th, but of course it was nothing like we get back home. Paul got to come home early from school (though he first had to go to a farm to pick up the heating equipment for his classroom's feeder chicks) and also got a two-hour delay the next day. On Wednesday the 13th we helped my friend Kate hang some concrete backer-board in the bathroom that she is renovating. It was fun to get dirty and handle a drill again! Emmeline and I had a fun Valentine's Day at the Birth Center with all the moms and babies. That evening Paul and I made homemade pizza and watched Survivor Fans vs. Favorites. We also had sparkling cider, strawberries and lots of chocolate! Both of our families sent fun Valentine's Day things for us and Emmeline; thanks grandmas and grandpas! Emmeline even got a fun package from her great auntie Darlene! Friday the 15th Emmeline and I went to Philadelphia to visit my friend Monica and her four kitties. She and her husband are renovating their house and it is almost finished. We did a bit of shopping and ate at a cute little French bistro in center city. I had a glass of Cabernet, mushroom bisque and quail! O la la! C'est tres bon dejuner! This Saturday we ventured to Baltimore to visit the Inner Harbor and the aquarium. It was our Valentine's treat to ourselves. It was a lot of fun, even though the aquarium was packed to the gills (ha!). On our way out of town we got a little lost and Emmeline did not have a pleasant ride home. Today we were mostly indoors but ventured out to the Wilmington/Woodlawn library and to the mall. We even met a couple at the mall with a two-month old named Ben. We started talking in the food court and realized that we had a lot in common. They also are far away from family and they seem to have similar parenting ideas as we do. They wanted to have Ben at TBC but had complications during her pregnancy. They even had a similar experience with the OBGYN we were seeing before we switched to TBC (pretty much laughed out of her office when we told her we wanted natural labor). It was a very unexpected but very welcome encounter. It is always fun making new mommy friends. I hope to see them again soon.
Anyway, as you can see we have been pretty busy around here. I hope to keep up on posting better as I should have more time. For now I hope you enjoy our pictures below.