Happenings

Man, it feels like forever since I’ve blogged. I guess it has been a long time.

A lot has come and gone. Pumpkin picking, Halloween, Election Day, etc. Because I’m awful about remembering things or keeping track, I’m going to try to remember as much as possible.

-          I’ve noticed that every day Gene has to watch Emma she just happens to be really fussy. I decided that something must be wrong, so I left work early one day and took Emma to the doctor. Turns out, she’s just fine and Gene is just shaky at handling her all by himself. Even the doctor said it (in a nicer, round-about way). I want to say that this happened on October 23^rd.  We’re working on this.

-          When we went to the doctor, we saw Dr. Miele. She had this to say:

o   Emma was 17lbs, 13oz. We need to gradually work her up to eating her meals farther apart. Meaning we shouldn’t be doing 4oz. every 2 hours, but we should work our way up to, say 6oz. every 4 hours. I forgot about this after the first week, so she’s still getting 4oz but every 2.5 hours. Tomorrow, we are bumping up to 5oz. every 3 hours. *Doc did say that she’s not overweight because of how much she weighed when born, but I would like to see her a little less roll-y.

o    We need to buy a CD of white noise for Emma. Not like Sleep Sheep noise, but a CD of a vacuum running. We found that if she’s hysterical, we can vacuum for like 5 minutes and she’s fine for 45 or so. Also, if she starts to flip out while playing we can give her the “crinkle book” or the toy car that makes a loud clicking noise when you spin it. She likes quiet for bedtime, but loud noise during the day.

o   Switching her formula is fine as long as it’s not each week. So, I have been buying both Enfamil Infant and Similac Advanced. We will use the Enfamil for a couple/few weeks, and then switch to Similac, and then eventually back again. I do this because I have been buying whatever formula I get coupons or checks for. That stuff is expensive and unfortunately you can only get so many deals.

o   Emma has teeth coming in. She doesn’t use teething toys (she refuses actually), but she drools a lot and she chews on her hands all day long. DR. Miele took a look and she did see those little teeth right under the gums, but so far they haven’t come through yet. I think this plays a part in Emma’s “out-of-nowhere crying.” I think she’s either biting down on her hand and it hurts her tooth, or she’s biting her tongue by mistake when she’s chewing on her hands.

-          We go back to the doctor on November 12^th (Monday) for Emma’s 4 month visit. She gets more shots, and I am so anxious to see her numbers. I think she has gained some length, and I am so curious to see how much. I know it’s silly to get excited, but I am. I even took the whole day off.
-     October 21st we got a reall belly laugh out of Emma. That sound was music to my ears. Now I try each and every day to get the same laugh... it's that great.

-          We took Emma to her first Pumpkin Patch. My Mom found this one on her way to work, but the name slips my mind. It was off of Salt River Road in St. Peters. They provided wagons to use for pulling your pumpkins in, but we used one to put Emma (in her car seat) in it to pull her to and from the field. She absolutely loved that part! It was like off-roading. She bumped and bounced the whole time we were there. Even though she rode the entire time she was wore out from all of the excitement and slept great that night. Lol. We ended up with a pumpkin for Gene and I, one for Emma, and one for Okie (even though she didn’t get to go with us). I definitely think this needs to be a Brink Family tradition.

-          On October 25^th my Mom’s work (Fort Zumwalt North High School) had a Halloween Safety Night, which was basically Trick-or-Treating from room to room. They had moved the time to be earlier in the night, so we had to bust butt to get there, but we got there 20 minutes before it was over to surprise my Mom and show Emma off in her costume to everyone she knew. She was so glad we went, and she loved being able to show us what she does each night. Emma also loved that night because she likes to watch people, and the place was packed with hundreds of kids all dressed up in costumes. Em’s eyes were wide the entire time!

-          Halloween night we handed out candy at my parents’ house. My Mom had to work, so it was me, Gene, Dad, Emma, Okie and Holli came over to hang out with Em for a while. We put Emma in her ducky costume and showed her off a little, but mainly it was just us getting a kick out of seeing her in it. The costume had padding so she looked twice as chubby. Lol. I think Emma had fun because she wore herself out and couldn’t help but pass out sitting in my lap on the floor (not like her). Okie had a great time though!

-          This past weekend was Holli’s 30^th birthday party weekend. It was fun, but we had to leave Em all night at my parents’ house. It was so hard. To avoid getting into lengthy detail here, we were late, made the birthday girl late, dinner took forever but was really tasty, went to Johnny’s where the employees wear underwear, had an awesome shot there, went to Hammerstone’s, it was boring to me, went to Molly’s, it was too smokey, then we (Gene and I with his 2 friends) got thrown out and went home. I couldn’t sleep in (even with DST) so I cleaned the house. At about 9:00am I had to wake Gene up so that we could go get Emma because I just couldn’t stand to be away from her any longer. Mom said she only woke up one time at 2:30am, and slept the rest of the time until 6:30am or so. It was a good night.

-          This coming Saturday is Gene’s 15 year class reunion. I’m not sure about leaving Emma all night, but it’s at a winery so I know we will be drinking. Man, I hate leaving her!

-          Yesterday was Election Day. I’m glad it’s over because I hope the country can get back to normal day-to-day life. But, last night was exciting. Gene and I took Emma to go vote and it was thrilling. I explained where we were going and what we were doing, and then I told her that in 4 years she will go with us again (obviously lots before then too, but none as exciting as a presidential vote). Gene and I have always gone to vote together, and I hope we continue that for the rest of our lives. I find it to be a great American right, and the fact that Gene and I, as husband and wife both take it seriously, and choose to vote our own way, I think it’s a wonderful experience. I’m not as hush-hush, but Gene takes it so serious that he doesn’t even tell me who he voted for. I told Emma who I voted for. I also plan to one day explain to Emma the importance of voting, and why she should vote for herself and not listen to anyone else’s opinions. I want her to create her own views. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just say that it will continue to be an event in our household.

-          On October 21st Emma started rolling over from her belly to her back. She actually did it a few times that week. However, since then, she is back to hating tummy time and she quit rolling. This frustrates me to no end. I have no idea why. I think I might put too much thought and bank into development charts. I mean, each baby is different, and I should let Emma do things in her own time, but it just frustrates me. There’s a few things like that. For instance, Emma wont look me in the eyes when I’m holding her unless I’m holding her farther away from me and making noise. That’s on the chart… that she’s supposed to look people in the eyes. Also, she’s supposed to smile at herself in the mirror, but all she does is stare (not smile). She will look at me in the mirror and smile, but not herself. Also, I don’t think she grabs and holds onto things like she should be. I know, I know, I put too much thought into it all and I should let her be. It’s hard to though. I want to make sure she’s learning and growing as she should be. I plan to ask the doctor about it all on Monday.

-          Em’s sleeping is still going great, knock on wood. Only a few REAL wake-ups a week. Lots of screaming in her sleep, which wakes me up, but Dr. Murphy (Emma’s other doc) warned us about that because I used to have night terrors. Normally Emma will sleep through or go right back to sleep after one of her screams, or she will adjust herself and go back to sleep. Like I said, there’s only a few times a week Gene or I have to get up with her. However, with that all said, some friends have been commenting on the “4 month wakeful.” I think that’s what they called it. It’s basically that at 4 months babies get this burst of playful energy in the middle of the night and would rather play than sleep. I’m hoping Em gets her sleep habits from me and would rather sleep than play when it comes to the middle of the night. I’m worried.

Well, I could just keep typing away, but I’m going to try to blog on Monday after Emma’s doctor appointment so I think I will cut this off now and save some for later.

I love my Emma. I miss her every day that I am away from her. I kiss her and hug her constantly and it doesn’t even seem like enough. To this day, I still cannot believe how happy she makes me, and how much I love my new life with her.

Hands down, the best thing I ever did was have her.

Jenni