Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day from the Asbys! We hope everyone has had a great day, we had a great Valentines day with our little girl, but this is my last day of maternity leave and I have been one sad momma all day :(.  I know it's the right thing for our family though and thank God I have such a wonderful job to get back to with a wonderful group of people!
We have been doing well and I will be posting about our days as Emery and I have spent them over the last 12 weeks hopefully tonight so that I can look back on our time together. 
I just wanted to post our little surprise we gave daddy today, I think he loved it! Who wouldn't???

2 Months Old!

Baby girl you are 2 months old already, I can't believe it! Time is flying by and your daddy and I are cherishing every moment with you!

 Oh yes and you were not happy for your 2 month photo shoot, little did Mommy know though you wanted a quick nap, see below :)

Size: You are 10 lbs, 3 ounces, 22 inches long and the doctor says you are petite but are an average size for your age so that's great!  You are in size 1 diapers, which finally fit even though you have been wearing them for weeks :).  Your clothes are mainly 0-3 months right now and sometimes depending on the brand you can wear a 3 month outfit. 
Developments: Nana and Granddad call you a "mess".  You are very high maintenance, but no one can fault you for that you are my child!!! You loooove to be held all day, but you are actually very self sufficient with your nighttime sleeping.  You can actually be laid in your rocker sleepy but not asleep and you will watch your gloworm until you fall asleep.  Your bedtime varies but can be anywhere from 7:45-9:00.  You normally get up once around 4am to eat and go right back to sleep until about 8:00, of course this can vary at any moment :), sometimes you wake earlier and sometimes you have gone until 5:30 WOAH we liked these nights!! Your naps during the day are getting better but are still difficult, mommy has learned your schedule, eat every 2-3 hours and after eating you will play an hour then go to sleep, but in the middle of the day I'll swaddle you and you will take a 2-2.5 hour good nap, maybe even another one in the late afternoon!
You really love playing now, you are such a joy! Mine and your daddy's favorite thing is when you smile at us behind your paci, this just makes us both melt.  You definitely will tell us when you want something and we now know your cries and what they mean.  You will fuss when you are sleepy so we know when it's time for your naps and bedtime, and you will fuss like crazy when it's feeding time.  When you are hungry, watch out I am sure the whole neighborhood can hear you while waiting for your bottles to warm up. 
Eating: You are so petite, but mommy loves you like that :).  You will eat 3-3.5ounces now at each bottle every 2-3 hours.  Mommy has tried to give you more to make you last longer but this normally doesn't work, sometimes you will take 4 ounces but you still only last 2.5-3 hours after your feedings.  Your reflux has gotten better but flares up every now and then and I feel so helpless when you have your tummy aches :(.   
Likes: Vibrating seat, mobile in crib, activity mat, being swaddled, having your butt pat, your paci, bathtime, mommy and daddy playing with you, sleeping in the car, and our lunch dates with your buddy Colt.

 

Dislikes: Being hungry, sleepy, when new people startle you, being put in your carseat, tummy aches.
We only have a few weeks left together before mommy goes back to work, but don't worry, our time together will be even more special when I get home to you each night and on the weekends :). 

Lastly, Kingston turned 3 years old on January 20th I cannot believe it! We traveled to Wilmington to celebrate with him at his Pirate themed party, he had a great birthday!! Wonder why he loves pirates so much??? hmmm... Here's Kingston on his throne and you smiling at your Daddy at the party!

Random Thoughts

I must say that my life couldn't be better.  I am so blessed to be a mother to this beautiful baby girl I can't even imagine my life without her.  These past 7 1/2 weeks have been the best weeks of my life, challenging, but so rewarding.  Her reflux is getting much better which makes for a happier baby, we are getting on more of a schedule with daytime naps and nights are good too, last night she slept a straight 8 hours!!! Yay :).  I am so in love!

 Her Nana and Granddad think she's pretty great too!

 Cooper came and stayed with us for a few days and we REALLY enjoyed having her here she was a big help and I've missed her...can't wait for them to move back closer very soon!!!

Oh I'm pretty in love with this guy who is the best father to Emery and seeing him with her is an even greater love than I already felt for him! :)

I don't know how I'm going to go back to work and leave this baby girl, but the best thing about leaving her is that I will be leaving her with my sister, so I know she will be well taken care of.  I know that I have to work so that she will always have the things she needs/wants I am so blessed to have a great job that I love and it will make the days away from her easier.

So, on a different note, I'm going to call Kacie B being a finalist if not "The One" for Ben on the Bachelor, I hope I'm right I'm usually pretty good at pinpointing the finalists on these shows :).  I also like Lindsey too, we shall see!!!

Christmas and New Years

This was the best Christmas I think I have ever had, something about having your own child at Christmas makes the season so much more special.  We had a wonderful holiday celebrating in Kinston Christmas Eve night, and then Santa visited my parents house the next morning.  My sister, Mike, Kingston, Steven, Emery, me, Uncle Alan and my parents had a great morning seeing Kingston open his gifts and of course I had to open Emery's but she got lots of good toys and other goodies! Kingston's favorite toy was a gun he had been asking Santa for and he got it! My dad is of course wrapped because Kingston is going to definitely be a hunter one day.  We headed to Ayden for lunch Christmas day at Steven's grandmas and Emery got even more goodies there, including her first Bailey's box that had a very special necklace with a cross from Mama that she will cherish forever.  Steven and I came home that night and put away all the Christmas gifts and relaxed, it was the perfect holiday to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  This is not the best picture but her Christmas dress, compliments of Elli Grey Style, was just precious!

And of course her cousin couldn't wait to get his hands on her again, he's so amazed with her, rubs her head and feet, but got pretty jealous over his granddad holding her this last time haha.

Thanks Ste Ste for my pirate hat!!!

Steven's cousin Sara's son Gavin turned one so we headed to his birthday party new years eve and then headed to stay with my parents in deep run with them and Kingston.  We decided not to do anything more than that this year because our baby is so young and is trying to get her tummy straight, which is doing much better now thanks to zantac!!! It was enough for me to be kissed by my husband at midnight while holding our sweet baby girl, how could you not be smitten by this baby girl???

 Oh did I mention how happy we are to have Colt Moss home? Emmy and him finally got to meet and we are so happy to have our friends home and Colt is doing great!!!

 Lastly, do you know what made our Christmas even more special, our baby girl gave us her first real smile Christmas Eve while my sister Lindsay and our Mema were changing her diaper!

  I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we are so blessed and so happy to have had the chance to celebrate Jesus' birthday with family and friends!

One Month Old!!!

Baby Girl, you are a month old today, time is flying by way too quickly.  Here a few of your favorite and not-so favorite things :).
You had trouble sleeping at night in the first few weeks so mommy went out and bought this contraption which is a God-send! We think you may have a little acid reflux and the incline helps you not to choke if you get reflux in the middle of the night.  This is currently what you sleep in and you will normally sleep from about midnight until 3:30, maybe 4:00, eat, then you will sleep from about 4:45-6:30 or 7:00 which is a huge improvement.  I am trying to lay you down in your crib during the day to see how you will nap in there, usually you are up in about 30 minutes though haha.  So we are currently thankful for this Fisher Price Rock and Play Rocker!!!

You are still in newborn clothes and can wear some 0-3 months, we think you may be around 9 lbs. but will find out for sure at your 1 month checkup next tuesday! You have increased and eat an average of 3 ounces every 2-3 hours which is hard for mommy to keep up with but we are working it out! You have grown to LOVEEE bath time and don't mind your diaper being changed anymore as long as you aren't starving.  You still get very fussy most nights around the same time which could be anywhere from 7:00-12:00, but we have recently found out about another God-send for you, Colic Calm! Your friend Miles' mommy told us about it and we are forever grateful, it calms you down so you can sleep when you get gassy and fussy. 
We love you so much and can't believe it's been a month since you came into our lives.  We are so blessed and your daddy is wrapped already! We can't wait to celebrate your first Christmas this weekend with our families!

 Here you are with one of your boyfriends, you have lots haha!!

 We love you, Happy One Month!

 Speaking of someone who loves you! He is so in love with his baby cousin

She's here and is 1 week old!!

Our baby girl arrived at 5:11 on November 23, 2011, this was the best day of our lives!!! She was 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 19.5 inches long.  After going in on Tuesday night at 5:00, I was induced and had her the following day.  It was a very difficult labor for me, but looking back it was all well worth it when I look at our precious angel.  Steven and I just sit and stare at her, sometimes we don't even know what we are watching on tv.  She was very healthy except for some high jaundice levels, so with some very heavy feedings and several days later her levels have come down and we are so thankful for that.  Because of having to feed, feed, feed her to get the jaundice down we had to start supplementing formula in the hospital becuase she was having trouble nursing after we discovered our baby was tongue tied.  So, I have been pumping and feeding her this way and then with one or 2 feedings a day with formula.  We took her Wednesday to ENT to look at her tongue and they suggested for us to clip it, it would be very painless and hardly any trouble.  If we had kept it like this she could have eventually had speech problems and some other issues.  So, we decided to go for it and she did so well, I think it lasted 3 minutes and she barely cried or bled.  Now, we will resume trying to nurse again :).
She is now a week old and is a very good baby.  Steven is so in love and everytime it is his turn to stay up with her, I come in later to find her asleep on his chest.  I have always loved Steven, but there is something different seeing him be such a good daddy to our little girl.  He's very protective over her and is so proud of her.  So here are a few things about you baby Emery:
-You like to sleep ALL day and then party at night with mommy and daddy when they would really like to be sleeping.  We have learned to take shifts, but this will have to change more to mommy when daddy goes back to work next week :(.
-You drink about 2 ounces of breast milk every 2-3 hours, this is probably getting ready to increase because sometimes you don't seem to be getting quite enough. 
-You LOVE your gloworm, we put it on and you immediately fall asleep.
-You HATE being laid down in your pack and play beside our bed, but you will sleep in your swing for a few hours at a time. 
-You HATE to be changed because you hate the cold wipes, but this is getting better each day.
-You have had lots of visitors and some of our very sweet friends have been bringing us dinner and this makes it so much easier so we can spend more time with you to learn your ways!

Here are some pictures of our sweet baby girl, we are so blessed and could not be more in love, there is absolutely nothing like it.  People have always said that, but you just don't know what it's like until you hold your baby in your arms!

 I can't believe you are a week old, and you are so precious we could eat you!

 Your first bath was a success, you loved it!

    Your cousin is so in love with you he couldn't hardly wait to hold you!!!

39 weeks...whew

Last week before the big DDAY!!! This seems crazy to know that I only have 4 more days until my due date.  I am so nervous and excited to meet her.
Size: A mini watermelon...I hope she's a mini watermelon and not a big ole watermelon :).  The midwives have all said different things about her size, but they all agree she will be on the smaller side.  I have heard 6.5 pounds up to 8 pounds, I guess it depends on how long she decides to bake.  Babycenter says she is probably around 7 pounds and 20 inches long, but one never really knows until she appears!
Weight Gain: I actually haven't gained any weight in several weeks, so I am still at a total of right at 30 pounds, I think this is pretty good considering what I have been eating at times haha.
Sleep: I still can't complain about this, I sleep pretty well waking up a few times to go to the bathroom, and then it takes me a few minutes to get back asleep, but overall I am sleeping good. 
Appointment: I had my appointment Thursday and the midwife thought she had turned again so we got an ultrasound, and after all the worry she is definitely still head down, just doesn't seem quite ready yet! The ultrasound tech measured her at about 6 pounds 14 ounces, so we'll see how accurate this is very soon!
Symptoms:
I have actually become pretty miserable the last week or so.  I am constantly nauseous and this keeps getting worse and worse :(. 
Heartburn-still horrible
Back aches-check
Swelling-NONE I'm so blessed that this has not been a problem for me at all!
Exhaustion-I am so glad I got most of the stuff in her nursery ready before these last few weeks, because when I work all day all I want to do is come home and lay down. 
A few things I have learned about myself while being pregnant:
-It gets harder and harder to drive, well basically just hard to turn around and see blind spots, etc. haha
-They make us pregnant women pee in a cup every doctor's appointment, but they must not realize we can't see down there which makes this the most difficult part of the appointment for me!
-This baby has loved Chic-Fil-A, Chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Baskin Robbins, and well anything sweet!
-I don't even want to get dressed unless Steven is home anymore because I can't reach to put my shoes and socks on by myself, I can't imagine if my stomach were bigger because everyone keeps telling me I have a really small belly.
-I really enjoy the fact that it's been me and her for these past 9 months and I have loved feeling her kicks and punches, but I think it's now time to share her with her daddy and the rest of the world!
-Everyone loves to tell you to walk, walk, walk, but this is so difficult when all I ever want to do at this point is sit/lay down!!!
I am hoping one of these next blog posts will be about our new baby girl, but we'll see, she may wait and grace us over Thanksgiving :).  I have been told by several people my stomach is still pretty high up...but she definitely feels low enough to be ready haha.
Anyway, everyone say prayers for a safe, healthy delivery!