3 months!

I can't believe that Emmett is already 3 months old! He is definitely a little chunk. He likes his food and his sleep =) But that makes him extra cute lol.

This last month he has:

• started eating 6 oz at every feeding
• sleeping through the night (most nights)
• started to enjoy playing under a 'gym' with hanging toys
• started sucking his thumb quite a bit
• moved into 3-6 month clothes
• almost outgrown his bassinet!!
• become really vocal
• cuddled lots and lots
• become our little 'drooley boy'
• gone on a lot of walks
• started sitting up without support
• started moving around a lot more
• had his hair start to come back in
• started to follow moving people with his eyes
  

We sure love our little man! I can't imagine our lives without him!

2 Months!

Well, Emmett had his 2 month checkup this morning. Here are his stats:

Weight: 14 lbs, 4.5 oz (90%)
Length: 24.5 in (90%)
Head Circumference: 16 in (62%)

(I found these percentages online; the Dr's software wasn't running this morning...but looking at some growth chart he said Emmett was between the 25-50% for weight and head circumference and higher for height...but those numbers just didn't sound right for his weight. He's a beefy boy. So I looked them up myself)

Emmett also got 6 vaccines- 5 via shot and 1 oral. Thankfully the nurse was able to combine 3 of the vaccines so Emmett only had to have 3 shots. Poor kid. But he was a trooper; after the initial screaming, he calmed down pretty quickly and has been pretty chill since we got home. He's sleeping in my lap right now as I'm writing this. I'm hoping he'll sleep it off instead of being cranky the whole day. *crosses fingers*

I still can't quite believe it's been 2 months already! It seems like yesterday and forever at the same time! He is such a sweetheart and I love him so much!

• He doesn't make the Zoolander face anymore =( And we never got a good picture of it.
• He still LOVES to cuddle
• I think he recognizes who mom and dad are
• He holds his head up REALLY well and LOVES to look around. He definitely lets us know when he's bored and wants something new to look at.
• The past week we've been able to get him to eat more on a schedule...not at set times by any means, but if we feed him we've got a good 2-3 hours before he needs to eat again. Which helps me get stuff done during the day. =)
• He usually gets a 4-6 hour stretch of sleep at night; he's slept 8 hours a few times. Those nights were amazing for us lol.
• He's balding! All the hair in the front has fallen out, and he's also got a bare ring around the back; it's funny, because he's got one circle of hair on the back of his head, a bare ring, and then a ton of hair on the bottom half of his head. Goofy guy. Just to give you an idea how much he's been shedding, the other day I grabbed the burp cloth out of his bassinet to wash it and it looked like a cat had been sleeping on it. And Emmett rarely sleeps in his bassinet!
• He still gets uber grumpy if we try to do anything to him while he's sleeping. It's cute.
• He LOVES the Moby Wrap. Seriously, whenever I bother to put it on and put him in it, he's asleep within 10 minutes 90% of the time. And the other 10% (that's being generous) he just sits there happy as a clam.
  
• He loves to look at the fish when we change his diaper. (The changing stuff is right next to the fish tank right now)
• He is such a happy boy! (most of the time...and when he's not happy...well, he's definitely not happy lol)
• He is definitely chunking up. He's got the cutest little rolls on his legs! I love them!
• He loves bath time. As long as the water is warm enough. I usually get tired of pouring water over him before he does.
• He makes the cutest cooing noises. (And other noises, too. I LOVE his noises)
• He still makes the funniest faces.
• He still doesn't really like a binky...but he'll use one sometimes. And I think we might have a potential thumb-sucker on our hands; yesterday I caught him sucking on his thumb a little. Then he started screaming because he was hungry ;)
• He LOVES being outside. If he's having a rough time, I'll take him outside for a walk and he settles right down.
• He does NOT like having his arms under a blanket. And about half of the time he'll kick a blanket off his legs, too.
  

2 Month Pictures

Well I figured I'd put a few more pictures up. =) Enjoy!

Typical 'chillin' face

Go team, go!

A funny face

A rare moment with the binky in...

...this is what usually happens.

One month highlights

So I realized that I'd neglected to do a post about the things that Emmett does that I don't want to forget. Therefore, here goes!

• he makes the cutest noises while he's breathing; it's somewhat similar to a coo
• he does what we call a "fish flop" when he's hungry and wants to be fed. We'll be holding him upright, and he'll alluva sudden flop to one side or the other because he knows that's the position he's held in when he's being fed.
• he's started smiling, and it's super cute
  
• Jeremy swears that Emmett has started laughing in his sleep
• his eyebrows are so expressive; even though they're blond and you can't really see them, you can definitely tell what expression he's trying to make because the muscles underneath move
• he makes a "Zoolander" face--his mouth forms this tight little 'o' and he opens his eyes wide
• he pulls on his face when he's upset, which freaks out Jeremy a little because he's worried he'll hurt himself
• when he gets upset, his face turns all red and he gets the cutest little grumpy look
• when he's trying to sleep and you're fussing with him, he starts grunting like "hey, I'm trying to sleep here! Leave me alone!"
• when he's sleepy, his eyes roll in the back of his head
• sometimes his eyes don't look in the same direction
• when he wants our attention, he'll usually start out whimpering and won't go into full-blown crying unless we don't come help him
• he has really hairy shoulders; it is so adorable!
  

And what would a post be without pictures of the little guy? These were taken by my friend Lena shortly after Emmett was born...I want to say around 9 days old? She did a great job and you can't really even tell he was jaundiced during the shoot! It's too bad Emmett would only cooperate when Jer or I was holding him. It forced us to get creative lol ;)

I love how his one eye is looking at the camera. So precious!

He looks so peaceful in this picture. Such a sweetheart!

One month

Wow, it's hard to believe that Emmett's already a month old (give or take a day lol)! It feels so much longer and so much shorter at the same time! It's hard to remember what life was like before he came along. He has definitely captured my heart. I told Jeremy the other day that he was no longer the only man in my heart. ;)

Emmett is such a good baby! He hardly ever fusses; usually only when he's hungry or wants to be held. And the past three nights he's slept really well! That has DEFINITELY been a blessing for me! Now if only we could get the whole nursing thing down... (I'm getting super frustrated about that whole thing. He KNOWS how to do it, he just sometimes won't do it! It's driving me CRAZY!)

Jeremy has been looking for a job; he's had a few leads and hopefully SOMETHING will pan out soon. I'll update if/when we find something out.

Anyway, I don't know that I have much more to post, but I wanted to let you all know we're still alive and give you all a recent picture to feast your eyes on. =)

Emmett Connolly Cress

He's here! Our precious baby boy was born Tuesday, June 7th at 10:49 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 8 oz and was 21 inches long. It sure didn't take him long to melt our hearts =)

Birth Story

We checked into the hospital at 8pm on the 6th. After getting settled in, the nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4 and was 80% effaced. The doctor had told them to just put me on low-dose pitocin overnight, so they started the iv at about 11:30. (I might add that my mom was frantically making the drive up from Tri-Cities at this time. We'd kinda been expecting the doctors to start with Cervedil or something to start thinning my cervix that night and not actually start the pit until the next morning. And my mom was worried that she'd end up missing the birth because she always went really quickly after she reached 4 cm.) The pit started making me have regular contractions, but then they'd go away until they upped the dose a little more. I tried to get some sleep, but only dozed. However, at about 8am, they were getting pretty intense and regular. Since I'd progressed a little, they gave me the option of getting an epidural then. I wasn't in a ton of pain with each contraction, but since my mom always went fast, I was a little worried that if I didn't get it then, I would either 1) progress really quickly and be unable to get an epidural later or 2) be in a ton of pain while they were trying to give me the epidural. Shortly after they gave me the epidural, my doctor came in, checked me (I was now at 5 or 6 cm, I can't remember which) and broke my water. Then I took a nap (finally!!) I woke up around 8:45; I think because I was feeling so much pressure during contractions. The nurse checked me and I was at 9.5! She called the doc to have her start in on her way from Cheney. That next 10-15 minutes was the hardest! I could tell I was at the pushing stage, and resisting the urge to push was killing me. Because of the epidural, it wasn't really pain, but I could definitely feel an unpleasant sensation lol. Finally, the nurse got the room set up for delivery and said we could start pushing while waiting for the doctor. Oh, blessed relief! Pushing didn't even hurt; all I knew was that I finally didn't have all that darn-blasted pressure driving me crazy! The doctor showed up shortly thereafter. I hadn't thought I'd want a mirror; the thought of watching everything kind of turned my stomach. But since everyone else was watching and seemed really interested, I decided I'd see what the deal was all about. And I figured if it did gross me out, I just wouldn't look at it anymore. I think that actually helped A TON. I could see that I was actually making progress (I'd been pushing for an hour or so and it felt like I hadn't made any progress at all) and it gave me the strength to keep pushing. Finally, his little head popped out! It honestly kind of startled me; it was really sudden and I hadn't really expected it. A few pushes later, and he was all the way out! They put him on my stomach immediately and then covered us both with a warm blanket. It was the coolest feeling in the world. Honestly. I can't even describe it. He was so gorgeous; and newborns are never pretty!

It took us over 24 hours to come up with a name, but we finally did. We really liked the name Emmett, and I really wanted to name him after my Grandpa Connolly (my dad's stepdad). He is such an amazing man and has really been an example to me in my life.

So, although we are definitely missing our sleep, we wouldn't trade this little guy for anything in the world!

Eek!

Time is ticking nearer! I can hardly believe it's almost time to meet this little guy! I have a doctor appointment tomorrow, and we'll probably set an induction date then. Hopefully. If not, I might shoot someone. (backstory: the doctor told me almost 2 weeks ago to start thinking about induction dates and mentioned anytime after Memorial Day...so we'd started planning on earlier this week. But then I went to the other doctor last week and he wanted to put off setting an induction date until this week. Super disappointing, let me tell ya!)

I think we've got most of the essentials covered. We found this glider (well, almost...it's got lighter colored wood, and the cushions might be a tad more tan) on Craigslist for less than half what it costs new. =) Hooray once again for Craigslist! I have been checking there for...oh, probably 2 months looking for a comfy, nice-looking glider. I've seen one or two go through, but was never able to snag them. So I was super glad that we were able to get this one on Monday! Thanks to our awesome friend who drove us to the South Hill in a van so we could pick it up! =)


And we've got a borrowed bassinet, swing, and bouncer chair. Plus an uber ton of clothes and blankets. I know we'll need more diapers, but I wanted to hold off on buying too many before we knew what size he'd need. Can anyone think of baby items they were super glad they had that I might have overlooked? I'd be much appreciative. =)

Umm...what else? Graduation is next weekend. Woot! I am so excited to finally be (almost!!) done with college! One more step toward being an adult lol. Or at least, feeling like more of an adult. It'll be weird though; I've always been a student (except for summers, but they don't really count) for like...95% of my life. Or something like that. So I guess it might be a little bittersweet to leave that part behind and move on. Or not. haha I guess we'll see.

Baby's still moving a lot. I think he must get many utils (an economic term that is a measurement of happiness) from sticking his feet out as far as they'll go. Unfortunately, that particular habit of his doesn't bring me many utils. haha But I'm glad that he's still active and doing fine.

Oooh! I just can't wait to see his cute little chubby cheeks! (Yes, we can tell he's got them. Thank you weekly ultrasounds!) And my sister-in-law thinks he's got my nose. I guess we'll know in a few days haha.

I have to admit, though, I'm starting to get nervous episodes. I still don't think things have FULLY sunk in. I mean, it feels like I've been pregnant for so long that it's hard to believe the moment he'll come home with us is so close. I don't know that I've really connected being pregnant with bringing a baby home. Of course, I know in my head that's what happens. But I don't know that I've really applied that knowledge to my personal life. Does that make sense at all? It just still feels kinda surreal. I think especially since I haven't had ALL that much experience with babies...I was young when Zack came home from the hospital. I don't remember what it was like the first few weeks. And honestly, my child's perspective would probably be much different than my mom's perspective of the same time period, even if I DID remember.

I think I'm most nervous because I know my life will change, but it's hard to really know exactly how much it'll change, since I've never been through this before. Oh well, I guess I'll know in the next month or so. I'm definitely looking forward to it. =)