Emory - 2 months!

On Thursday, November 14 Emory turned 2 months old!  She has just fit so seamlessly into our little family and we just love her SO MUCH!  She's our little "Emory-Bug!!"  (And this is long and rambling so it won't bother me if you skip reading it, or just scroll to the pictures at the bottom.  But I don't want to forget this stuff.)

• I think she weighs about 11 pounds, but we will find out specific height and weight next Tuesday at her 2-month check-up.
• She is wearing size 1 diapers.
• She wears lots of 0-3 month onesies...but pretty much nothing that says "newborn" on it anymore.  She's too long for those now.
• Nursing - We've really hit our groove this month.  I don't have to ever pump anymore before she nurses, even if it's in the morning and I'm pretty "engorged."  She nurses about 10-15 on each side at each feeding, but I think she likes the right side better.  With Brynn I remember always trying to nurse both sides all at once (and be done in like 30 minutes), but this time around I seem to nurse one side and then take a break.  I might be helping Brynn with something, or fold a load of laundry or be playing or whatever.  Then a little later I let her nurse the other side.  I'm just glad nursing is back to what I remember!
• Sleeping - She's been a great little sleeper!  My goal is to start every day around 7 am, so even if she's asleep I'll get her up.  I nurse around 7, then she goes down for a nap around 8 or 8:15.  Just like with Brynn, we do the "eat, wake, sleep" cycle about every 3 hours.  At this point (9 weeks old) we usually put her down after about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Of course there are times where she wakes up early hungry and she nurses early, or if we are out and she's still asleep I'll nurse a little later, but for the most part, she nurses at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7, and again at 10 before bed.  I have to wake her up for most of her feedings, which I know some people think is crazy.  But it works for us and  I love it.  It has also helped her with her night sleep.  I nurse at 10 and she's in bed before 11.  Right now she is waking up anywhere from about 5:30 am to 7.  About half the mornings she makes it to 7!  YAY!  If she wakes up before about 6:15 then I feed her seriously just enough to get her back to sleep and tide her over until 7 am (like about 3 minutes!  HA!)  But for us to get 6-8 uninterrupted hours of sleep already, it's awesome!
• We swaddle her for every nap and lay her down awake.  It's amazing how she just knows to go to sleep and she rarely fusses.  Sometimes she cries for about five minutes or so, but then goes to sleep.  The one exception is after her 7 pm feeding, when she goes down about 8:15.  The first 6-7 weeks she NEVER went down and definitely had her "witching hour" where she pretty much had to be held.  Now she goes down about 50% of the time just fine, and then other half of the time she just can't fall asleep or get settled and we bring her out to the swing.
• She's out and about a LOT more than Brynn was as a baby.  After we lay her down for a nap and she falls asleep and we get ready, then we just scoop her out of bed asleep and pop her in her car-seat and go do whatever errands we need to run.  We also go to the gym on Monday and Friday mornings and she and Brynn go to the gym day-care with Mrs. Marie.  She just sleeps in the car-seat while she's there.  I LOVE being "home" with the girls, but as most of my friends know (and some are just like me, and some are the opposite) I don't always want to be "home"...I LOVE getting out and about and staying busy.  So I was a little worried that with a newborn I was going to feel "stuck" being at home so much more.  But thankfully, God has given me a spirit of contentment when I know we have to be at home.  But also we are out so much more than last time, so that helps a lot!
• I still feel like we keep Emory on a pretty good routine, but I'm just so much more relaxed about it.  I also feel like in general it's been a much easier transition this time around, than the first time.  I think last time I stressed SO MUCH about wanting Brynn to be this perfect little baby and when she fussed or cried I'd be like "oh my gosh!!"  I remember when Brynn was a baby dropping her off in the church nursery and she was crying and I seriously stressed the entire service because I didn't want the nursery workers to think she was a "bad baby."  But the very first week we dropped Emory off she had woken up on the way in to church and was crying all the way in.  Instead of being worried about the nursery workers thinking she was "being fussy" I remember thinking "I'm so glad I can leave her with them so I can go enjoy church!"  HA!
• She has started smiling so much and makes the sweetest little noises!  She is just the best little baby! Sure, she has her fussy moments, but in general if she's fed and changed she is just SO CONTENT.  She smiles a lot and is pretty "go with the flow." 

Good grief...Miss Diva over here!

2 days old!

1 month!

2 months!

And just for fun/comparison, here is Brynn at 2 months.  I think Emory MAYBE has a little more "Pingel" look to her?  Does anyone agree with me, or am I way off?  I know she still looks a lot like Ryan too.

Brynn at 2 months.