Poop Pee Farts and Boogers

What is a nice Christian girl like me doing talking about all of the previously mentioned bodily functions? Well I have a theory. Once you become a mom these things become such a routine part of your day that you no longer view them as taboo. (I never really viewed them as taboo to begin with probably because my mom loved to say the word fart. It pretty much made her laugh out loud every time she heard it.) Now though, I find myself having a conversation about at least one of these topics every day. Today I think I seriously offended some poor little old lady because I was walking through the soft drink aisle at Target saying "I heard you tooting in there miss Emelia Mae, you can't hide your toots from mommy." This is troublesome for two reasons, one I was talking to my three month old baby - aloud in Target and two I was talking about toots like I was talking about the weather. I thought it was pretty funny but the lady observing me seemed less than pleased about it.

I discuss Emmy's potty habits constantly, what color is her poop, what did it smell like etc. because you can actually tell a lot about your child's health by their bowel movements. Plus it just is what it is - poop is a regular part of my life, not to acknowledge it would be silly. So for all of my friends who have bodily function shyness I apologize for offending your sensibilities (Tina you know who you are...) but I can't help it. One day you too will know that you haven't really lived until you have sucked boogers out of your babies nose with a bulb syringe. The bigger the booger the more excited I get because it means all the works was not in vain.

All Night Long...

Ladies and gentlemen we have achieved a major milestone... Emelia Mae has slept through the night for the last six nights. Every night when we go to bed I think "she will wake up at 1:00 tonight I am just sure of it" but then she doesn't wake up until sometime between 5 and 7. It is so heavenly. I have even stopped waking up at 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 waiting to hear her. I will say I have been having some crazy dreams with all of this continuous sleep.

We bought Emmy this new activity gym - ok so I bought it - I can't resist anything that says it will help her develop. I mean even if I screw her up, if she has enough developmental stuff, it will counteract my weirdness. She just loves it. This morning she spent 20 minutes on the floor kicking the beach ball rattle and staring at herself in the mirror. She just giggled and smiled at herself. Jeff thinks she was trying to tell "the other baby" how cool this new toy is. (We think when she sees herself in the mirror she thinks it is another good looking baby that has come to hang out with her.) I can't get over how much I love her and how much I enjoy being with her.

We have started to get in to a little bit of a routine of sorts, it is so great. I really don't think I have ever been this happy. God has blessed us so richly and I am so grateful. That isn't to say that there are not times that are stressful, like when she has a crying fit in Target at the check out counter, but overall things are good. It is ironic to me that I thought that with the reduction in income from me staying home we were going to have to give up some life's goodies. I don't miss a single one of them, at least not so far, and in fact I think right now we are really experiencing life's goodies for the first time. I have been to a lot of plays, concerts and sporting events; I have drank a lot of fancy cocktails in "hot" bars and eaten amazing food in five-star restaurants, but none of that fleeting happiness compares to the joy in my life right now.

Before I turn in to a complete mush-pot I will sign off...

A Good Night's Sleep

SO , we did it. Emmy slept for nine hours one night this week. I fed her at 7:30 and expected to get up around midnight to feed her again. Then 3:30 came and I bolted out of bed just certain that she was dead only to find her sleeping peacefully with that little baby snore. I went back to bed and she got up around 4:30. Can you believe it? She hasn't done it since, but we are getting longer and longer sleep stretches, 5-7 hours instead or 3-5.

I will write more soon, but I need to get some chores done because my friend Britt is coming and the bathroom needs to be cleaned before she gets here. (Britty if you are reading this I know you are saying don't be silly I don't care what the bathroom looks like, but I do so I will clean it.)

P.S. Thanks to everyone who was so supportive on Valentine's Day. I am now able to see that mom left this world on a day devoted to love so that I could remember her love each year on that day. I miss her terribly but I feel blessed to have had her as long as I did.

The Shot Heard Round the World

Okay so maybe it was only heard around St. Louis but I swear people in the next zip code over heard Emmy scream when she got her five, yes five, shots last night. It was awful. I cried when I saw the contorted look on her little face. It is so hard to watch someone hurt your child. I know these vaccines are a good thing but man after last night a part of me never wants her to have another one. Today she is so sleepy and cranky. Luckily the sleepy outweighs the cranky. When she is awake she is pissed but then she falls asleep and forgets how mad she is.

Confession...

I have spent the better part of today organizing and strategizing for my grocery shopping tomorrow. My friend found this web site called thegrocerygame.com which tells you where the best deals are and matches them with coupons from the paper and the internet. I am about to get me some 87 cent pop-tarts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! YOO HOO!

I asked Jeff last night if he is living the life he thought he would be. I mean he didn't marry a stay at home mommy. He married crazy ambitious career lady. I am not the same person I was even a year ago. Truthfully, I am so much happier now than I was then. I never knew that I would love being at home with the baby and organizing the house and grocery lists and what not as much as I do. Jeff said he is actually happier now too. He said that he feels like he is a priority in my life and that family and our lives together are the top thing in my life. I would have to agree, but how sad that for the last five years of our marriage he has felt in some small way like he was competing with my job. That makes me very sad. I am not sad about my past, not one bit of it, because it has taken being there to get to being here. It just makes me so grateful that I can turn my neurotic singlemindedness to something healthy.

Remind me to tell you about the miracle of breastfeeding tomorrow...

More Shots

Today is Emmy's 8-week check up. That means more vaccinations which sends a chill of terror down daddy's spine. (I think he hates the shots more than she does.) I can't believe it has been 8 weeks. I am still really enjoying being home with her. We are sort of getting in to a rhythm, but she does like to keep me on my toes. She has started to make all kinds of noise for about 20 minutes before she falls asleep. The trouble with this is that my adrenaline surges with each noise she makes because I think she is going to start crying. I should know better but I can't control my body's response. This to shall pass I assume. I am looking forward to the time when she sleeps through the night consistently. Now that is a word that every new parent should remove from their vocabulary because there is nothing consistent about babies. Last week she went for two six hour stretches. (I think she was just showing off because my friend Gina was in town.) Last night she went four hours and then five hours... none of this is cause for complaint, I am just saying there is no consistency which is a challenge for this timeline driven mom. If only I could put her childhood on a spreadsheet this would be so much more manageable. Alas, since I can't I will just enjoy the goodness that radiates from her sweet little face. We finally captured some smiles on camera, so here they are.







This is her singing in to her thumb. She does take after her mom. We are singing to Jesus Walks by Kanye West. Some parents play lullabyes, I prefer slightly contoversial, culturally relevant rap.