3 1/2 Months

Today we are at exactly 3.5 months from Emmett's due date. We could not be happier with the giant leaps and bounds of progress he's made since his homecoming. He weighed in at 16 pounds today, which the doctor said is about the 50th percentile! Not bad for being born 3 months early! He didn't get his official length taken today, but I just did an approximate measurement while he was sleeping, and I think he's somewhere around 23 inches. Look how studly my little man has become.

Since coming home he has more than doubled his weight (he was 6 pds, 9 oz when he came home), and I don't even know if there's a word for being 8 times bigger than his birthweight (1 pd, 15 oz) Octrupled? Haha.

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  He still has blondish/light brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. I wish I had a nicer camera that captured them better in pictures.
• He loves to talk. All day long. But not just by himself. He wants to have conversations. Jared laughs because Emmett and I can have 10 minute long conversations where he responds with all different ranges and tones of baby talk (Think Dori speaking "whale" on Finding Nemo). He's got a very diverse baby "vocabulary" . If you do something that makes him mad, he shouts out at you with this angry babble that sounds like it could possibly be the equivalent of swearing in baby language. If he's happy and you're smiling at him, he coo's. If he's excited, you get squeals of delight accompanied by kicking legs, and then he has times where he just vents, and he goes on and on with a tone that just demands pity and you can't help but respond "ohhh thats sooo sad, im so sorry"
• Loves to be sung to. His current favorite is "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia. Kind of random, I know, but he seriously can't get enough of it. When I play it on the computer and sing it to him, he gets this special, excited gleam in his eye.
• Tracks objects all over the house with his eyes (which he really has been doing since the NICU. The Occupational Therapist there said she had told people about him because she'd never seen a baby so young that could do that).
• Learns new noises that he can make every day and thinks they are neat, so he adds them into his vocabulary. By "noises" I mean a cough, or a little dinosaur-sounding scream where he gets his voice/throat to vibrate.
• Has the saddest facial expression you've ever seen in your life. I've never been able to get a picture of it, because it comes on fast and unexpectedly but it is enough to break a total stranger's heart! It is the saddest little frown, and he sticks out his bottom lip perfectly, and his tiny chin even quivers. It's a hundred times worse than a sad, puppy dogs face and he has it perfected.
• Loves to have screaming matches. Not angry screams, playful ones. But he thinks its so cool that he discovered how to scream, and even cooler that Mom can do it too. He tried to do it when I took him to the Golds Gym corporate office the other day, and he did his little scream then stared at me, mouth hanging open in a smile, waiting for my response. He was so confused why I wasnt doing it back, it made me laugh out loud.
• Doesn't really like tummy time too much, but we keep at it anyway. He lasts for like 10 minutes.
• Just starting to sleep through the night. (10 or 11pm to 6 or 7am)
• Enjoys staring at the TV, especially if its ESPN or something with lots of movement.
• Is liking walks and car rides a lot more
• Can roll onto his side (He's never still, usually not even in his sleep) haha
• Can hold his rings, shake a rattle, and spin the little barrel on one of his toys (it has little plastic balls inside to make noise). He also has this little ball toy that he can pass back and forth between his hands sometimes.
• Still snores. haha. Gets it from his Dad.
• Most always wants to be held so that he's standing.
• Completely off oxygen!!
• Starting to teethe already! I can't see any teeth yet, but I know he is because he drools like crazy, gnaws on his hands, cries like he's in pain, and had a mild temp a few days ago. (They are probably just coming into his gums)
• Always smiling!

He is growing so fast, I'm already getting the "oh no, slow down!" panic. Now that he's reached the adorable, healthy, chunky baby stage, I'd be okay with it lasting a little longer! I'll leave you with one last

picture!

Emmett's Baby Quilt

Jared's Mom (and his younger sister Sarah) love sewing and making quilts. I love designing things, but don't exactly have the sewing know-how to make them. So... I decided it would be fun to mastermind a fun Dr. Seuss quilt that would match Emmett's room, and have Sherri and Sarah put it together for me. I went shopping and picked out all the fabrics and how I wanted them arranged, and sent them with Sherri to be assembled.

It was a great team effort and I love the way it turned out!! I picked a variety of fun, soft textures for him to experiment playing with... minkee, fur, flannel, and cotton. And of course lots of bright colors for his eyes to look at!

I think Emmett is just as pleased with it as I am, he loves having playtime on it! Thank you Sherri and Sarah for all your hard work!

                           The whole back is red minkee, you can see it folded over in this shot

Here's a close-up shot of the fabrics so you can see more of the detail

Emmett chillaxin (notice his oxygen is gone? That's right, he doesn't have to wear it during the day anymore!)

 zoomed out to see how big it is

And as planned... it goes with his room PERFECTLY!

Diapers.com

So I found this marvelous website called Diapers.com. They offer everything from Diapers, to clothes, to toys, books and bath items, formula, products for mom, and even drugstore items that have nothing to do with babies. So don't let the name mislead you!

This is my new favorite site. They offer Diapers cheaper than Babies R Us or any store I've found thus far, plus they offer $5 off your first order, and accept manufacturer coupons. They also have their own section of a ton of ecoupons that they will use in combination with your manufacturer coupons. If you order over $49 (which is easy to do with diapers), you get free 2 day shipping. I think mine actually showed up the next day.

The best news? If you enter my referral code (ERIC5148) or my email (erickson.cas@gmail.com) on the first time you check out, you get an EXTRA $10 off your first order of diapers, AND earn $5 toward your next order. OR you can get 15% off a non-diaper purchase. For you using my referral code, I earn a $10 credit too!

They have special deals and promotions, and their diapers go on sale from time to time.

Just thought I'd pass along this great find! What could be more convenient than diapers and wipes being delivered to your doorstep for free??

Proud to be an American

We celebrated the 4th of July with a barbeque at my parents house. We ate lots of yummy food, played on the trampoline, and lit off some fireworks. Here's a picture of the Mud Pie I made for dessert. I made up the recipe myself, and I was so proud with the way it turned out! Oreo crust with delicious layers of fudge, mud pie ice cream, cool whip, peanut butter, vanilla ice cream, and then topped again with cool whip and drizzled with fudge.

Like my patriotic outfit?

I made sure Emmett was dressed for the occassion too, of course.

I've been working on getting my running back since having Emmett, and I thought it would be fun to run a 5K. So in honor of the 4th, Kendall and I did the "Freedom Run" on Monday.We set our alarms for 5am and headed down to pick up our packets.

 It was a ton of fun. There was almost 5000 people there, and the huge group of us stood and said our pledge of allegiance to the flag as it was raised at the starting line. Tons of hot air balloons were in the sky above us, and a guy sang the star spangled banner. The Governor was even there running with us!  Part of our run was along the parade route which was going to take place later that morning. People had already set up their tents and chairs and were camping out early waiting for the parade to start, so we had tons of people standing on the sides of the road cheering us on. We finished strong and were awarded with these lovely finisher medals. Don't we look so official?

PS- I did a few posts at once the other day so make sure you scroll down to see them all :-)

zzZzZzz

All the funny positions and places Emmett likes to sleep crack me up.

LOVES to cross his legs

Also loves to fold his hands

This is  what he does when he's really snoozin - both arms thrown up by his head.

Sweet Dreams Beebo!

Have you ever seen anyone so tired...

as my husband?

No, he has NO idea these pictures are being taken, trust me. He didn't even flinch. NO, He does not realize he's hanging off the couch. And NO, there's no reason why he is clutching the baby rattle...

Guess that's what happens when work makes you stay for 15 hours.

The First Outing

On Sunday, we took Emmett up to my parents for dinner. It was his first official outing (besides the Doctors office, which obviously doesn't count!) I was worried about how he was going to do on the 25 minute drive because he's not too fond of being strapped down in his carseat. He was such a good boy though and smiled and laughed most the way, then fell asleep at the very end.

                                                     (Look at that chunk of love!)

It was so nice to actually be somewhere other than our little apartment! Emmett loved having the change of scenery, and got to sit in the backyard on our swing for a long time.

Superman!

I love this picture cause it shows off his beautiful blue eyes! Thanks for dinner Mom!