A week in the life!

Our first week of summer vacation went something like this~

We played outside and watched Daddy power wash the picket fence.

Walked downtown during the Festival of Arts and walked through the Art Museum.

I baked some Snickerdoodles that were delicious and shared at Jared's work.

Emilie came to the doctor with me to get my shoulder checked out again. She was a little angel.

Mommy made pop bottle toys that sparkle and swish when tossed around.

Emilie played with her baby doll as Mommy talked on the phone.

We attempted artwork for Father's Day. We named the art piece "Disaster."

Emilie hated the paint, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to put her hands on the canvas. Instead, she wanted to paint her face, which meant a quick splash in the kiddy pool...except it was ice cold and Emilie was angry, cold, and had goose bumps. She got a warm bath afterwards, but when I came back out a bird had pooped on my phone in the meantime. 

Standing and pulling herself up!

Books, books! She loves tearing her room apart each day and going through all the books as she reads to herself. This gives me time in the morning to put my face on!

Mommy went to a meeting in Holland and Emilie got to see Auntie Amy again!

Sun room fun!

The taste of sweet cherries is just so yummy!

We visited a book store, hoping they'd have story hour, but they didn't. Instead we picked out a book for Daddy to read Emilie for Father's Day. She claimed the book by chewing off a few bits of fiber :).

My little kitchen helper.

I made some fresh raspberry scones, all they needed was some clotted cream!

Pretending to be a 50's housewife, I guess?

Spaghetti dinner for the win!

Cutting teeth. This was a horrifying site to come into, but the bleeding stopped and Emilie was all smiles. 

And lastly, a trip to the farm to visit Grandma again!

8 months

What has Emilie been up to lately?

Almost Crawling

• talking A LOT...in the car, in her crib, on walks, while eating, while playing, and everything in between!
• she is in the process of growing two teeth, they are just barely sticking out
• sits up by herself
• laughs and smiles all the time
• loves being outside
• loves other kids and has so much fun with her babysitting buddies
• eat almost everything
• squishes slimy food and wipes it all over the highchair

"The Duquette Look"

Spring Break on the Dairy Farm!

Emilie also says, "dada", "mama", "baba (bottle)", and is starting to repeat the sounds of phrases like, buh-bye, want to eat, and dog

She continues to grow and is so long that she wears 12 month footie pajamas. 

She is also a tough cookie: no tears or even a flinch when she got her follow-up shot a couple weeks ago. She only cries when she bonks her head and knows someone is watching :).

Butterfly Garden

For Spring Break we visited Grammy at the Farm and went to see the cows, chickens, bunnies, and kitties. 

We also went to see the butterflies at Frederick Meijer Gardens. Emilie was very well behaved and has completely turned a corner after five months of torture! :)

Emilie has continued to eat a variety of food, but she refuses to try finger foods. As soon as a piece of food hits her mouth she gags dramatically. 

Happy Spring

What Emilie is looking forward to:

• being in the KinderParade at Tulip Time
• 9 month check-up
• seeing her Great-Grandparents again
• warmer weather
• Summer break!
• visiting with Florida Grandma
• Hanging out with family
• Taking a trip to the Shedd Aquarium & Nashville, IN
  
  

Half Birthday!

February 9, 2013 was Emilie's half birthday! Six months already! She has taken a preference to social development as she has started talking, saying "ba ba," "da da," and other crazy baby sounds. She mimicks some noises, and gestures, and LOVES to talk, LOUDLY. She takes after her daddy I guess!

Puggy playtime

Emilie is learning to sit up, but squirms so much that I think that'll take a while! She loves to eat and has worked up to eating two meals a day, and has tried 9 fruits and veggies: avocado, banana, pear, peach, apple, broccoli, sweet potato, and acorn squash, plus brown rice.

Monkey buddy

She is sleeping through the night now, and I think eating solids plus a bottle right before bed has helped. She's a little easier to take out as she loves watching people and lights and doesn't scream anymore, hallelujah!

Emilie absolutely loves kids, and is lucky enough to get to play with several when she is being babysat. Her new friends are Elianna, Zachary, Vivienne, Kayla, Muriam, Allison, Chloe, and of course her cousins, Gabriel and Samuel. What a lucky girl!

Snow day snuggles!

We've also had five snow days already! It's been such a blessing to be able to stay home and snuggle little Emmy. Although, snow days aren't very productive, as I don't like the idea of hauling Emilie around, and in and out of the car on gross, snowy, icy days. I love that when Emilie does go to school in a few years and has snow days, that I'll be able to stay home and not have to worry about where she'll go.

Emilie has also acquired many names: Emmy, Emmy-Lou-Who, Emmy-Lou, Emmy-Lemmy, LizzyBeth, Em, and Embaabe as affectionately named by her daycare friends.

We recently went to the doctor for Emilie's 6 month appointment and shots. She is 28 inches long, which is the 98th percentile, and 15 lbs 5 oz, which is the 30th percentile for her age group! She did really well with her shots, crying at two of them and quickly focusing on eating her shoe.

Since Emilie has gotten too big for her bouncy chair, which she used to fall asleep in at night, we have moved her to her crib to fall asleep on her own. We go through a bedtime routine: bath, bottle, book and bed. Jared's old phone plays music in her room. There was only one night where Emilie screamed on and off for an hour. I checked on her that night every 10 minutes and she'd laugh when I'd try to soothe her, and kick and scream when I turned my back. I had Jared go in and do the exact same thing: offer a bottle, read a story and put her to bed. She quickly realized that Jared and I are on the same team, and has been soothing herself to sleep at night on her own for a couple days! She definitely loves sleep and seems to need a lot of it to keep her little body moving all.the.time!

Happy 5 months!

Emilie and Elmo 

Emilie turned 5 months this past Tuesday. She is growing and learning so much! Now that we've started solids she has put on a little more weight. She's getting chubby cheeks, cute little thighs and a pudgy belly. Emilie love avocados with apple sauce the most!

Lights!

She has started sleeping through the night for the most part. There are still nights where she'll get up, but only once. Jared usually gets up with Emilie in the morning and that's their special time together. It has been a really nice switch to be able to get a solid night's sleep! I try my best to stuff Emilie's little belly full before bedtime too!

Owl hat twins

She can also roll over, is more efficient at grabbing, throws toys on the floor, and has an entertaining sense of humor. She thinks almost anything is funny, but is also very opinionated about what she does not like: getting her face wiped, not getting food right away, and boredom. She also talks and moves all.the.time. I have a feeling I'm going to be getting calls when she's in school that she can't stop talking and won't stay in her seat :).



Emilie is getting better at taking naps as well. As long as she has a set routine, and you don't alter it too much she's a very happy, bubbly baby. We've learned our lesson! She also sings as she falls asleep in the bouncy.

Gossip Girl and the Sickies

We had a great family Christmas, and Emilie and I were over the sickies just in time! Poor little girl had an ear infection and was so miserable. We just had lots of snuggling and watching girly shows.

August Girls

The best part about Christmas for Emilie was unwrapping the presents, that was so much fun! And, seeing her cousins, Sophie and Josie, whom she ADORES. She loves when the girls dress her up and play with her hair. When mommy does her hair she cries!

Jared started another semester, taking a math class and a computer class. I am back at work and enjoying getting out of the house, but after snuggling Emilie every day during break I really miss it!

We've started talking about going on a couple little vacations this summer. We hope to meet my friend Crystal, her husband, and her little boy, Noah, who is just a month younger than Emilie at Mackinac Island. We also hope Florida Grandma can make another visit to Michigan, maybe when it's a little warmer!

Long, tall Sally!

4 months and more

Oh boy, we are so behind! Miss Emilie is almost 5 months old and we've had our first Christmas as a family of three!!

Here's how it's been going recently:

Jared finished up his two classes at Davenport, and will return in January for Spring semester. He passed both his classes with 100%! He is LOVING his computer classes and all the new, fun stuff he gets to learn about and try!

I am loving my job, and am SO GRATEFUL that it's only part time. I don't know how I'd function at full time with this crazy kid! I teach high schoolers, and we even started a classroom economy behavior plan that has gone over really well! My co-teacher isn't coming back next year so I'm hopeful that I'll be full time next school year!

Emilie is growing in so many ways! He stats at her 4 month doctor appointment were:
Height: 25.6"
Weight: 13.6lbs

So, that's 95 percentile for height, and 25 percentile for weight.

She eats a lot, chews EVERYTHING, still wakes in the night to eat, and drools constantly. So! We decided to start solids. We introduced Emilie to avocados and bananas over Christmas break. She absolutely fell in love with bananas, but was horrified that we gave her the green, avocado moosh, so we mix in bananas to trick her!

Emilie is currently getting over her first major illness: ear infection. She also has a nasty cough and is all around miserable. So, our Christmas was a little different this year! Both Emilie and I were no fun as we were sick and just wanted to sleep all weekend! We're on the mend though, praying that Jared doesn't get it!

Emilie is also rolling over, puts weight on her legs and "stands", teething(we thought), growing LOTS of hair, becoming more coordinated with her hands, found her toes, giggles, and smiles all.the.time.

Overall, Emilie is a very happy, smiley baby, but can quickly go from 0 to 10 in no time. She still screams when over-tired or just angry. We've attempted to fix this by following a strict nap schedule: every 2hrs, it's worked wonders so far!

3 months

Emilie has changed SO MUCH in a month! She is starting to fill out and look less newbornish. She is now:

• blowing spit bubbles
• attempting to use hand-eye coordination by playing on Daddy's phone
• talking and gurgling
• can grasp objects
• tracks people and objects with her eyes
• smiles when she sees someone or something she likes
• eating more and sleeping a little longer

With these big developmental milestones also comes fussiness, changed appetite and different sleep patterns. Emilie has been having little meltdowns every night before bed. She has to squirm and scream before she finally drifts off to sleep. Fortunately it doesn't take her too long to fall asleep, but the screaming is a little un-nerving.

Emilie will officially be 3 months on November 9th, but since we don't have a doctor's appointment until she's 4 months, I'm not sure what her weight/height is. I think her height is probably the same, but weight is maybe up a couple pounds from last month. 

Emilie is finally able to wear all the cute 3 month clothes that have been hanging in the closet! She swims in them, but they fit her long body! She's also drooling a lot, and I was asked why I don't put bibs on her all the time; because I LOVE changing her outfits several times a day! :) She puts up with the outfit changes too!

We didn't really do anything for Halloween this year. Jared was at school, and with the fussy 12 week-ness we didn't have the time to hand out candy. Sadly, I didn't see any kids out in our neighborhood anyways. I think a lot of people must do indoor trick or treating at the mall. 

I can't wait to celebrate Christmas with a little one this year! Jared and I have decided that since our budget is tight, our "gifts" to each other will be to go shopping together and get Emilie all sorts of little goodies. I can't wait to see where Emilie will be developmentally in just another month! 

Milestones

• Emilie is 2 months old. She weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 11oz, ha! 23 3/4 inches, so might as well be 24 inches, with a giant head. Really. Height and head circumference are in the 97th percentile. Weight is in the 42nd percentile. All arms, legs, and HAIR oh my! Emilie with headbands -------------------->

• We're sleeping longer stretches at night! Emilie sleeps anywhere from 4-7 hr stretches. I sleep about 2-4 hr stretches. I wake up constantly if Emilie sleeps for a long time. It's getting better. She has fully transitioned into her crib, although when daddy gets Em up at 5am, he feeds her and puts her back in bed with me so we can snuggle for a few hours. She's quite the little snuggly baby. 

• A lot of firsts are coming up for us! On Monday I start my first day of my first year of teaching! I am so excited. It's part time and will be a pretty slow paced job; I'll only have three students to teach, and it's more one on one than whole class. I already have a few ideas for what to change and how to make this school year better than the last. 

• As for Miss Emilie Monday will be her first full day with Amy, and away from me. I know I'll think about her the entire time I'm at work, but at least it's just a couple hours before I get to see her again. I think the first week will be rough, but she's with a wonderful, trustworthy person, so I know she will adapt.