Emma

Wow, she is really changing every day! She is such a talker now. She does this new talking where she doesn't really open her mouth--it's so cute! She is also starting to make the "m" sound, which I keep waiting for "mama" even though she won't really know what she is saying yet.

She laughs and smiles all the time. She is fun to interact with and definitely knows her mommy and daddy. When daddy gets home from work, she is all smiles.

We've transitioned her to the crib all night. It was really hard for mommy to have Em out of the room. We started just putting her in there for the beginning of the night, but then moving her back to our room when we went to bed. However, I don't think she was very comfortable in the pack and play anymore. The first couple nights were not fun. She was waking every 30 minutes. She was in a new place and had trouble putting herself back to sleep. Last night was night #4, and she did much better. She still woke up a lot more than in our room, but it's getting better. Yay! At 5 a.m. I heard her on the monitor talking and playing. She is such a happy baby~! :) I also am to the point where I can sleep and not stare at the monitor all night, haha!

She is grabbing EVERYTHING! I have to be careful what I have around her or in my hands.

She is tri-pod sitting, where she can sit but has to have her hands on the floor in front of her. She has rolled back to front a few times, but isn't doing it all the time. We are still waiting for front to back rolling.

We've let her try to drink out of a sippy cup for fun. Yesterday, she actually held it herself and managed to get it in her mouth a couple of times. Even though she was just biting it, it was cute to see her hold it.

We got her a new car seat that is convertible. She is 16 pounds and it was hurting my back taking her in and out with the infant car seat. She loves the new seat!

I can't believe tomorrow she is 20 weeks old! Time is flying!

Diet

It has been really hard being on the dairy/soy free diet, but it's definitely worth it. I never realized how many foods actually have dairy proteins and soy in them. I can't eat normal bread or really any processed food. I am so glad that we have a Whole Foods near by. I found dairy/soy free butter, which actually is pretty good. I tried rice cheese, which wasn't very good-LOL. However, we did find some shredded vegan cheese that actually tastes like cheese---yay!! I found dark chocolate that is delicious! Also, we tried coconut milk mocha almond fudge ice cream, and I think it's better than regular ice cream. I made some peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chip cookies yesterday that were yummy. You use apple sauce and canola oil instead of butter, and get special chocolate chips. Here is a picture:I also found a coconut milk coffee creamer. It's not the best, but will work. We are still working on dinners. We usually just have meat, rice, and veggies. A lot of sauces have soy in them, but we are making it work.

Emma seems to be getting better. Not as much spit up, and her diapers seem to be getting better. We have a check-up on Thursday at the doctor.

Milk Allergy

We took Emma to the doctor on Thursday because she's had some tummy trouble. We found out that she has a milk allergy. When I was a baby, I had a milk allergy as well. Since I am nursing, I have to eliminate all milk and soy out of my diet. We aren't sure if she is allergic to soy, but the doctor wants me to eliminate it for a couple months, and then add it back slowly. Wow, I never realized how many foods have soy in them. Thank goodness for Whole Foods! It will be hard, but it's worth it to make our little girl feel better.

We Have a Roller...one-sided :)

On Wednesday, July 21st, Emma rolled from back-to-front. Yay! She is still working on rolling from her tummy to her back.

First Time in Highchair!

We let Emma try out her highchair while we were eating dinner. We let her play with toys. She seemed to really like it. The doctor said to wait until she is 6 months to start solids, but we figure we'll let her get used to the highchair in the mean time.

Emma is FOUR months old!

Wow, I can't believe how fast the last four months have gone by! I am so lucky as to have had this time with Emma. It makes me so sad to think that in a few weeks, we won't get to spend every second together anymore. I know she'll do great at daycare and at least she'll have her friend, Brody, there.

Today Emma got her four month old shots. She did much better than with her two month shots. She wasn't even overly tired today, like last time. We had a pretty normal day, with just a little fussiness. She is now an even 16 pounds (92%) and 25 1/4 inches (85%). She is growing so great! The doctor gave us the option of starting solids, but said that with breastfed babies you really don't need to until 6 months. We are going to wait for now. As you can see, she is growing great!

She is changing so much every day. She is now smiling and laughing ALL the time. I love it! She is talking up a storm, and let's you know when she doesn't agree with something, haha. She can pick up toys, change hands with them, and shake her rattles. Everything goes into her mouth. We think she is teething because she goes to town on her hands, more than before. On her belly, she can lift her head straight up. She pushes up and tries to crawl (and gets mad when she doesn't go anywhere, lol). She isn't rolling over yet, but I can tell it's not far off. She hates laying down and just wants to sit all the time. She pulls herself up, so her head and neck are off the ground, but can't quite get to a sitting position. If she is laying in my lap against me, she can pull up to a sitting position, but sometimes goes too far and goes straight forward, haha. She really recognizes Tom and myself. She hasn't been sleeping her long stretches anymore, but I guess that's typical at 4 months, because they have so much going on (teething, new skills, etc). We've been putting her in the crib to start the night, but usually she's back in her bassinet before we go to bed. We can't keep her asleep in the crib, but we are trying to get her more used to it by starting each night there and hopefully we'll get past the hour wake-up, haha.