Diet

It's been 3 months now since I've been on the dairy and soy free diet. Slowly the last couple of weeks, I have been adding back food to see if it causes a reaction with Em. I have added back soy completely, and still no reaction--yay! I started simple with soybean oil and then went to soy milk. I can finally go to Starbucks again! I still can't eat out because almost everything is made with butter. I am slowly starting to reintroduce dairy. I start last week eating real bread---soooo good! Hopefully by Thanksgiving I can have mashed potatoes--yum! So far...nothing has bothered her-yay!

I know this is going to sound crazy...but I actually can't wait to eat again and gain some weight back! I am smaller than I have ever been in my adult life. I was so excited to finally be able to wear all of my clothes again, and now they are all falling off of me. I refuse to buy all new clothes. I bought a couple of pairs of cheap work pants and one pair of jeans.

Keep your fingers crossed that I'll be able to eat yummy food again :)

Daycare

We LOVE Emma's daycare!! She is always so happy when we are dropping her off or picking her up. I love that I can log-in from work and see her on the web cam. I have gotten much better and just check it a few times throughout the day. Thank goodness my days are so busy, or I think I'd be glued to it. She gets to go outside daily and swing on the baby swings. She makes art projects every week. Each week they have a word of the week that they learn in English, Spanish, and Sign Language. She gets read to, listens to music, plays with toys, and they sing songs to the babies. She had picture day last week and they are having a Halloween Costume Parade. I'm so glad we found that place! :) It makes being a working mom a little easier.

I think that I'm finally getting into a good routine. It's crazy how busy my days are from the time I get home to the time I go to bed. When we get home, I wash all the days bottles and pump parts. Then we play until bath time. After I put her to sleep, I shower, make bottles and food for daycare, make my lunch, make coffee, and grade papers. Then do it all again the next day.

Emma is SIX months old...half a year!!

I can't believe she is already 6 months old! Where has the time gone?!? She is changing so much each and every day! We started solids the week before she turned 6 months. My parents were in town, so I wanted to have a veteran mom around :) Emma made the funniest faces. She wasn't a big fan. We also tried sweet potato, which she didn't really enjoy either. I am sure she was wondering what we were trying to put in her mouth, haha. Since then, I have tried bananas and apples. She has eaten both, but not really too interested.

She is now sitting. She can't sit up alone, but if I put her in a sitting position she can stay like that for a long time. She is a crazy crawler. She crawls where ever she wants to go. I put under her Baby Einstein play mat today and she managed to roll all the way over to her tummy time mat, which was across the playroom. It's so cute! She can grab everything. I have to be careful what I have in my hands when holding her. She still hasn't cut a tooth. I could swear she's been teething for a while now, but no sign of teeth.

She is really so fun now. She is talking like crazy, laughing all the time, and really smiling at us. She loves to be on her legs. She tries to jump and can even hold her weight on her legs. She loves her Baby Einstein stand up jumper that grandma and grandpa bought her. She also loves her doorway jumper.

She did so good with her shots. She barely even cried this time around. She is 18 pounds, 2 ounces (85%). She is 26 3/4 inches (also 85%). She is starting to slow down on the growth scale, and I'm sure that will continue now that she is becoming more and more active. She wishes she could crawl, but still can't completely lift herself off the ground. She can either lift her butt or her chest, but not both at the same time.

We LOVE her new daycare. Everyone who works there is so nice and they love Emma. I can log on and see her from work and she is always playing, or being read to, or working on mastering her new milestone. I think they really helped with her sitting up. There is another little girl there that is her same age and they are usually both sitting on the floor together playing with toys. It's so cute!

Emma is FIVE months!

Wow! I can't believe our little princess is FIVE months old already! Time sure does fly by! Every day is a new adventure with her. I love every day more and more because she changes so much! She is now rolling BOTH ways, tri-pod sitting, grabbing EVERY thing, laughing all the time, smiling, and loving peek-a-boo!! Her personality is really starting to come out! :) She is all smiles when daddy gets home from work now too. She is already trying to be a daddy's girl! She is starting to have stranger anxiety bad. If someone comes up to her when we are out that she doesn't know, she'll start crying. She is sleeping so well in her crib now (finally!). She is starting daycare. There are so many things happening, it's crazy!

Rolly-Poly!!!

On August 13th (a day before she turned 5 months) Emma rolled from tummy to back!! Now she is rolling BOTH ways. It's funny...she is loving her new skill so much that she does it ALL the time. I was trying to rock her to sleep and she was trying to roll in my arms. I was feeding her...and she was trying to roll. It's so fun to watch her roll to get a toy! :)

New Daycare

We decided after a week and a half that we weren't happy with Emma's current daycare location. The lady, who ran the home daycare, was very nice and really tried to help Emma adjust. The other three kids are all over one and mobile. Especially in the beginning, Emma needed a lot of attention and love. It was hard for the lady in charge to give Emma all of attention she needed while taking care of three other toddlers. I know that she cared for Emma, but I felt Emma needed more. Also, she believes in the "cry-it-out" method, which I'm not a big fan of. In the end, Tom and I think it was a good decision.

We found a daycare in Land O' Lakes, where we live. I was hesitant at first because that means Emma will be at daycare longer, because my school is 30 minutes away. I was trying to find something close to school, so I could get her sooner. Although, I think she will be really happy at this place.

They have an infant curriculum, they rock the babies to sleep before putting them in their crib, and they have a web cam where I can log on anytime and see the infant room. There are 12 infants and 4 teachers, which is a 3:1 ratio. They have so many toys, a swing, bouncers, they do tummy time/developmental stuff with them, and even an infant only outside playground. Everyone we met was so nice. I really think it will be a positive move. They even have the parents make a collage of pictures to put on the baby's crib so the first thing they see when they wake up is mom and dad. Also, they said that they realize infants are on a schedule of their own and don't expect them to nap/eat at certain times. At the other place, Emma was expected to nap at a certain time and I knew she was beyond tired by that point which probably is a reason nap time didn't go too well.

The only problem is I officially go back to work Monday, and they couldn't start Emma until the 23rd. (thank goodness it's only a week). Tom's mom is going to watch her M-R of next week. We are so grateful that she lives close and doesn't mind watching Em. We still aren't sure about Friday. I can't take off because it's week one of work. We'll figure it out though :)

Please pray that this daycare really is as good as we think it will be. It's a little more expensive, but I think it's worth it.

Update

Emma started daycare on Monday. It was the HARDEST thing I have ever done to drop her off. I don't officially start work until the 16th, but I wanted to ease Emma (and myself) into daycare. She only went three hours on Monday and has gone from 10:30-3:30 the rest of the week. She has been taking her bottles like a champ at daycare. Naps were a little tricky at first, but she's already getting the hang of it. The lady puts her down awake and expects the baby to fall asleep, and I've always spoiled Em and rocked her to sleep. The lady will let them cry until they fall asleep, but won't let them get too upset (thank goodness). She's been a little clingy with the lady. She cries when she puts her down, but she is adjusting. It has to be hard for her to understand where she is and why :(

It's been VERY hard on me. I miss her so much when she is away. The best part of my day is picking her up. I wish I could just win the powerball and stay home with her every day. :)

We went back to the doctor on Thursday and it seems that the dairy/soy allergy was the problem. She is doing much better. She is 17 pounds, 3 ounces. I love my little chunky monkey!! She's finally sleeping well in her crib--yay! She is still waking up 2-3 times a night, but much better than every 30 minutes.

Here is a picture of Em's latest milestone: tri-pod sitting :)