8 Months

I am a little late with this, but Emma is now 8 months old! Time just keeps flying by!

Emma is finally over being sick (for now) and is weighing in at 17 pounds 9 ounces and 25 inches long. She is pretty tiny baby for her age! Also, Emma now has three teeth, with one more on the way.  She is sitting up on her own really well right now, but no crawling yet. But I don't think she is far away from being mobile!

Once again here are Emma's likes and dislikes.

Emma's likes:
-Her jumpers
-Sucking on paper (gross, I know. I try to prevent this one as much as possible)
-Chewing on anything/everything she can
-LOVES bath time (see my last post)
-Sucking her thumb
-Pacifiers (this will be a fun one to wean someday...)
-Breastmilk/Formula (she is getting a combination of these now)
-Being thrown in the air
-Having raspberries blown on her tummy
-LOVES peek-a-boo
-Sleeping in her crib
-Daycare (always seems to be having fun at daycare!!!)
-Swing (still likes her swing every once in a while, not as much as when she was younger)
-Her doll that coos and laughs when you squeeze its tummy
-Most types of solid foods-both homemade and store-bought
-Car rides

Emma's Dislikes:
-Being hungry
-Getting out of the bathtub
-Sometimes she doesn't likes getting dressed/changed
-Doesn't really like being rocked anymore- is usually too tired and crabby and just wants to be laid down in her crib to sleep


As you can see, Emma has way more likes than dislikes. Overall, she continues to be a pretty happy baby and she is becoming so talkative and interactive. She is so much fun to play with these days.

Emma usually is asleep by 6:30-7:00pm, which is fine, but it doesn't give us much time to spend with her in the evening. A lot of evenings we aren't even home until 5:30 and then she's asleep an hour later. Part of the problem is that she doesn't sleep much at daycare-I think she is too stimulated and doesn't get much sleep, which leads to crabby evenings at home and early bedtimes.

However, she usually sleeps until around 3 am, which is 8 hours- then we feed her a bottle and put her back to bed. It works pretty well.

I'm pretty excited for Emma to crawl, but we have a little more baby-proofing to do before then. So, anyway everything is going well in the Nelson household!!

Bath Time!

Emma's favorite part of her day, is bath time. And now she has learned how to splash and make a big mess while she is taking her bath. It makes for quite a fun time. John and I have a blast giving her a bath as well.

Here's Emma loving bath time!!!

West Side Story

John and I made a New Year's Resolution to try and do something for ourselves once a month. It may not sound like much, but with a baby sometimes it's hard to go out and do our own thing. So, we put that to the test last Thursday evening, we went to West Side Story at the Washington Pavilion.

I had obviously heard to West Side Story before we went, but I really didn't know the whole story. And I really only recognized two or three songs, but it didn't really matter. It was awesome. The singing and dancing was wonderful. The acting was great. The set designs and flow of the story was awesome.

I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was about 2.5 hours long, but it went really quickly. I haven't been to many shows like this before, but I plan to attend more in the future. I have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.

The only bummer were the people who talked throughout the entire show. Not that it can really be helped, but I wish people had more respect for other people.

But anyway, if you have never seen West Side Story, I suggest you go to it sometime. It was well worth it. And it was a great evening out with the hubby!

Germs, Germs, Germs

I am becoming pretty familiar with the Avera Clinic located next door to Emma's daycare. I have taken her there three times in the last 5 days. That's pretty crazy isn't it? Poor Emma has been the sickest she has ever been this last weekend.

It pretty much all started two weekends ago, with Emma just not feeling great and having a little bit of a cough and snotty nose. She wasn't running much of a temp, so John and I brought her to daycare-because what else could we do? We can't stay home from work all the time.

Monday night, we brought Emma to Urgent Care because we thought she had something because she was just miserable. Emma ended up being negative for everything, so we brought her home and continued on our week.

On Thursday, daycare called us because Emma had a temp of 101.5, so John went and picked her up and then we brought her to the doctor that afternoon. The doctor diagnosed her with bronchiolitis and sent us home with Neb treatments to give her.

Emma was pretty miserable all day Thursday and Friday. She just wasn't herself. She basically slept and ate a little bit, and that was it. I had never seen her willing to cuddle!

I was still worried about her on Friday, so I took her back to the doctor. I'm glad I did, because she ended up having an ear infection along with the bronchiolitis. So, the doctor also prescribed amoxicillin. She we treated her with Nebs, antibiotics, and motrin.

Luckily, by Saturday, Emma was beginning to be herself again. She was not running a temp, she was eating better, and she was interested in playing again. We kept the medications going all weekend, and by this morning, she back to about 80%.

We went to the doctor again this morning because she wanted to see Emma back since the weekend to check in and see how things were going She said that Emma's lungs still sounded a little tight, but that they are much better than they were. So she told us to keep up the medication for the next week, and hopefully Emma will be back to 100%.

It was really tough to see Emma this sick, but I am glad we took her in when we did and got her feeling better. It's so hard to know what is going on with babies when they are sick, and they can go downhill so fast. But, luckily, they usually rebound just as fast.

We spent our weekend taking care of a sick baby, and it wasn't always fun, but there was no place else I would have rather been. I am so looking forward to spring and being done with all these colds/respiratory problems. Also, I cannot wait for the nicer weather. It's getting closer...

Emma playing with her Valentine's present from Grandma and Grandpa Kiecker

All done with bathtime :)

Finally feeling better

Winter Blues

Brr. It has been awfully cold these last couple days. Yesterday's high was -1. That was the high. With the windchill we were hanging out at about -30. It's not the first time, nor will it be the last time, I have experienced temperatures this cold. However, it was the first time with a baby.

It just makes things that much harder when the temperature is so ungodly cold. Also, I hate the wind. This morning was -7 degrees, with a high of 12. So at least we are improving.

On a brighter note, we are looking at 30s for all of next week. So for now, I am going to enjoy my fireplace and snuggling with Emma to keep us both warm. Hope everyone else is staying warm!