Emma: Week 7

Emma's 7th week of life was from September 11th to 17th.

She is getting so big!

She is getting better at holding up her head and likes actual tummy time more and more. She still prefers it leaning on my chest though. She has really good control of her head while holding her upright. I think she will have complete control of it here in a couple of weeks!

She still likes her daddy snuggles. 

On the 12th we had Peyton's, Emma's cousin, birthday party. Peyton just got an American Girl doll so all the ladies went and had lunch and went to the American Girl doll store to get her presents. Peyton was dressed like her doll and Emma has a doll with a dress to match, but I wasn't able to get a picture because Emma got a little fussy. I managed to get a picture with the birthday girl though! 

After the birthday party my mom took Emma for the night so Bobby and I could have a date night. Emma did so well and they loved having her. It is crazy how much stuff a baby needs though. Between her pack n play, bathtub, clothes diapers, etc my trunk was full! We are going to Austin in a couple of weekends and I'm not sure how we will fit all of that plus mine, Bobby's and my sisters stuff. 

They got home right when she needed to eat so Aunt Victoria got to feed her. 

And then Great-Grandma came to visit her. 

She slept just as well at night there as she does at home. I was nervous about naps because she doesn't nap well at home, but apparently she took all of her naps no problems. I really wish she would do that for me!

She got to have breakfast on the back deck by the lake, how lucky is she!

Then Gramps got her her first fishing poll so she got to go fishing. 

She loved it so much she wanted to sleep with it! They had to pry her little fingers off of it to take it out. 

All ready to come home!

I was kind of worried that she would have a hard time going back to breastfeeding after getting a bottle for 24 hours, but we didn't have any issues, thankfully!

She has also really started smiling and cooing a lot. I love playing with her after she nurses!

When I put her in her crib in her room for naps she always goes to sleep fine but then wakes up 30 to 60 min later and won't go back to sleep. I am so tired of fighting it and it makes her so tired for the rest of the day. I am going to start trying to get her to take naps in her pack n play, since that is what she sleeps in at night, and see if it is just the new room that is the issue. If so, then I figure I can put the pack n play in her room and slowly transition her to her crib. We shall see!

At night sometimes she will fall asleep while nursing and I can just curl the Boppy around her, like a dog bed, and move her to the side of me. She will sleep there until I move her to her bed. It is so cute!

When I was little from about 11 months to 2 years or so, a lady named Maria took care of me during the day while my parents were at work. Even though she stopped taking care of me when my mom stayed home, we got so close to her that even 25, almost 26, years later we still see here several times a year. It was really important to me that Emma got to meet her before I went back to work and she finally got to!

Emma took to her right away and passed out within just a few minutes!

Emma has started to really handle being out and about with no problem. I breastfeed her in the car, which I prefer because I don't have to mess with the cover, and while she isn't a huge fan of the cover in public she with nurse under it or a light blanket. The day she met Maria we left at 10:30 am and didn't get back until 5:30 pm. She only got 1 really good nap in while Maria was holding her so she was pretty tired. She fell asleep with in minutes of being back in the car and only woke up enough to eat for the rest of the day.

She even slept through her bath and didn't actually wake up until we took her out of it. Then she nursed and passed back out again!

She had such a busy week but she was such a trooper. She has become less fussy and I am now able to realize what she needs much faster most of the time. I really do wish she would nap better during the day without being in the swing or being held, but I am so glad she sleeps so great at night!

We are having trouble getting full feedings in at the breast in the mornings, but I am also so engorged that I think it just doesn't take her as long to get full as it does in the afternoon and evenings when I don't have as much milk. Around 3/4 am she eats from one breast for about 10 min and then passes back out, then at 6:30 she eats from the other breast for about 10 min, then will eat from the other at 9:30 for about 10 min and it isn't until her 12:30 feeding that she actually eats from both and it takes her longer than 10 minutes. I am pretty uncomfortable until her 12:30 feeding, I have to fight the urge to pump so much, but I just keep telling myself if I pump my body will think she needs it, when she obviously doesn't. I think I may start to have an issue with oversupply when I go back to work and have to pump there, so I hope my body regulates a little bit more in the next couple of weeks before I go back. 

I love that I can take her places now and I know she won't be super fussy. Even if she is really tired, she normally just sits there with her pacifier and stares off into space until she falls asleep. This makes me way less nervous about the 3 hour drive to Austin in a few weeks!