Emma - 1 Month

Baby Girl I cannot believe that you are 1 Month!

I feel like you have already grown so much, I want to cry.

I look at you and can't believe that I made you.

For 9 Months YOU were in my belly! Being pregnant for the first time is weird.
I knew that I obviously had a baby in my belly, but I could't imagine what it would be like when you were finally here, because even though I knew how pregnancy worked, I had never experienced it myself, so to finally get to meet the life that was growing inside me is indescribable.

It's so crazy to think that I was carrying you around, growing as you were growing, feeling all your movements, from kicks and punches to hiccups, and it's so funny to see how you move the same way out of my belly as you did when you were in there.

At every ultrasound you had your hands on your face, and out here you still always have your hands on your face, or you like when we cover your face with our hands when we put you to sleep.

I have only known you for a month, but from the moment I saw you you stole my entire heart.

I cannot imagine my life without you and I would do anything in the world for you.

I love you so much!

- Mommy

Weight: 9 lbs

Height: 21 in.

Eye Color: Blue!!! I hope they stay!

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Diaper Size: At the hospital you were wearing Size 1 since that's all they had, they just folded the front over, but I had some Newborn sized diapers at home to use, and they fit you better, so you have been wearing Newborn.

Clothes Size: Newborn & 0-3 Months if they're smaller.

Sleep: You have your nights.. Sometimes you sleep about 2 hours before you wake up during the night, some nights you sleep around 4-5 hours.

Eating: Every 2-3 hours during the day. If you are napping, now I let you sleep a little longer before I wake you up to eat. During the night sometimes you sleep for about 4-5 hours, but only SOMETIMES, which is almost never haha. And, sometimes you want a snack, and that's ok, mommy is happy to feed you. You love Mommy's Milk, that's all you eat. We give you breast milk in a bottle sometimes to get you used to it.

Likes: Mommy's Milk, looking at lights, being outside. You love to be held and you like your pacifier, but you get really mad when it falls out of your mouth which is allll the time so we have to constantly keep putting it back in your mouth. You love when Mommy and Vovó sing to you, you calm down and pay attention. You like to sleep cuddled up with Mommy. You like when we rock you as your belly touches ours with our hand on your face.
Dislikes: Getting out of the bath, you get cold. Sometimes you get really mad when we are changing your diaper.
Milestones: At just 2 days you could already hold your head up! :)
Firsts:You had your first bath and it was a little awkward since Mommy had a hard time holding you, but by the second bath you were in love! You saw rain for the first time, you got your first shot and you celebrated a birthday - daddy's. You had your first (of many more to come) photoshoot, and you were so good to "Auntie Bee" - that's what Mommy named her friend Amanda that takes pictures for you since you have 3 Amandas in your life!
Personality: You are mostly a happy baby. I wouldn't say you have a "personality" yet, you're just a newborn! :) You have a funny poop face, yup, I said it!

Emma's One Month Watercolor onesie is from Chicly Growing and can be purchased here.

It's a whole 12 Month set. I like that they're ironed on, and not stickers, so as she gets older she can't rip them out! Love it!!!

By the way, I took exactly 75 pictures, only 6 were good, the rest looked like this:

Owlet Baby Care Monitor Collaboration

Out of all the collaborations I have done, being approached by Jane from Owlet Baby Care was not only awesome, but it was such a blessing!

I, like many moms, freak out about my baby when she sleeps.

What if she stops breathing? What if she spits up and chokes?

Seriously, how can someone sleep through the night?!

I had researched online for different types of baby monitors, but I didn't find any that I truly liked.
There was one that you clip on the baby's diaper but I read reviews about it falling out and giving false alarms and freaking out parents, so I wasn't interested.

Enter the Owlet! I got the information on the monitor and videos and I was instantly sold! I could not wait to try this out, and honestly, now I can't live without it.

The Owlet baby monitor and alarm uses the same technology that hospitals use to check heart rate and oxygen saturation. It is called pulse oximetry.. What's that? It's that little red light they clip on your finger when you go to the hospital, but instead of the baby's finger, it's in the sock electronics on your baby's foot. It uses small LED lights, shining them onto the skin and sensing how much light makes it back to the photo receptor, so nerdy right? But so cool!!! (Disclaimer)

The base blinks green when the sock is connecting and is a solid green when the sock is connected.
It turns blue and sings "Hush Little Baby" which is so much better than an alarm that scares you!
And if the oxygen or heart rate is low, the base color turns red and alarms. 

This is what comes in the box!

Emma is currently wearing the smallest sized sock, which is the newborn size since her little foot is so small. The newborn sock looks different than the other two socks because the front is open, so that's why her toes are out.

Please note that unlike the other bigger socks, with the newborn size the monitor must be placed on the BOTTOM of the left foot, not the top.

The sock fits under her footie PJs, which is what she wears 98% of the time.
She was napping when I took the pics below, but of course as soon as I went to take pics she woke up! How cute is she smiling as she wakes up though?!

The socks are comfortable, soft, and don't seem to bother Emma at all.

I connect the monitor to their app, which makes checking her stats so easily, all I have to do is open the app and they tell me Emma's heart rate and oxygen level:

  

How awesome is that? To know that you don't have to touch your baby multiple times at night or shine a bright light on their face to see what they're doing..

And even better, you don't even have to get out of bed!

The Owlet is just a helper though! The Owlet is not a life saving device, it alerts you but your first tool to check your baby's wellness should always be your eyes and ears!

Disclaimer

I showed the Owlet to Emma's pediatrician and he loved it! He had never seen a monitor like this.

It makes me so happy to know that her doctor thinks this product is great, he's so interested in it and wants to share it with fellow patients.

Order your Owlet today, I promise you will love it! :)

Emma - Week 4

Holy crap! Where has the time gone? How is my baby 4 weeks old?!

In just 2 days she will be exactly 1 Month! WHAT?!

My little squishy is getting so big!

I feel like Emma is so long! I hope she will be taller than her daddy and I!

I also hope that her beautiful big blue eyes stay blue.

I always said I wanted a daughter with light eyes and dark hair.

I think that the dark hair with the light eyes is such a pretty combo!

In pictures it looks like she has black hair, but her hair is actually brown!

Dark brown, but with some light brown streaks all over.

I might be biased, but how did I get so lucky with such a beautiful little girl? :)

Emma is very attached to me, she wants me to hold her all the time, and I'm the only one that can really calm her down when she's upset. I don't mind! I love that I'm her favorite and I hope I'm her favorite FOREVER and ever!

I'm still exclusively breastfeeding, I love the bond she and I share.

I love when she looks up at me and hold my finger, it's the sweetest thing.

I've been pumping here and there, mostly for relief, but I hate it.

It's gonna be hard when I go back to work because I'll have to pump all the time to be able to leave milk with my mom so she can feed Emma.

I decorated the house for Halloween finally, and I started to put Emma in Halloween clothes.

I'm collaborating with a couple of shops for Halloween and I am so excited!

I can't wait to share her beautiful handmade costume!

Halloween is my all time favorite holiday.

This is it for weekly updates!

I just wanted to record her first month, but now we'll be doing monthly updates! :)

I'm sure I'll still take weekly pics since I'm obsessed with pics, and maybe I'll just make a post and post all the weekly pics in one, how does that sound?

Rovics Personal Touch Garland

One of the most special collaborations I have done was with Vic from Rovics Personal Touch.

I ran into Vic's Etsy Shop by chance and immediately fell in love with her work.

After speaking and setting up a collaboration, I couldn't believe how sweet, caring and professional Vic was!

Together we came up with an idea for a beautiful garland for Emma's nursery door.

I'm still waiting to get my nursery pics back from my photographer to do my nursery reveal post, but I just couldn't wait any longer to share this amazing work with you all!

Vic was so kind and patient, and so focused on detail that the garland I got was more beautiful than I had ever imagined. I put it up on my hospital door when Emma was born and it was a hit!
All the new mommies, nurses, doctors and even new daddies loved it so much!

All the nurses called Emma "Princess Emma" because of her garland.

The garland is now on her nursery door, and every visitor that comes over raves about how cute it is.

Check out how truly amazing and detailed Vic's work is:

This is us before we left the hospital showing off our beautiful garland!

Make sure to check out Vic's Etsy Shop to get a beautiful special item for a special baby in your life.

Like I've mentioned many times, I'm the first one from my group of friends to have a baby, but I can't wait until all my friends start having babies so I can order a beautiful garland for their nurseries!

Hip n Cozy Baby Car Seat Cover

When I found out I was having a baby, one of the baby items I knew I was going to "splurge" on was a car seat. Car seats are so important and I wanted to make sure that I invested on a good one.

The fact that I was willing to spend a lot of money on a car seat, I wanted to get something unisex so I could use it with my next baby if I have a boy (fingers crossed) so I ended up choosing an all black Maxi Cosi car seat.

When I found out I was having a girl, I wanted her car seat to be a little girly, so I started looking at car seat covers. I ran into Hip n Cozy on Etsy and Julie was so nice to send me a super cute car seat cover with all accessories for me to deck out Emma's car seat!

Let me tell you that everywhere I go, people ask about the car seat, it's such a hit!

I choose a hot pink minky and zebra combo, isn't it adorable?

Check out how cute Emma looks in her car seat with the cover:

I got the bundle which comes with the car seat cover, sun shade, headrest and strap covers.

They have many fabrics and colors to choose from for both girls and boys!

Hip n Cozy also offers toddler car seats cover and canopies.

You can check out their Etsy or their website.

Emma - Week 3

So last weekly update I wrote about how Emma's pediatrician wanted me to supplement breastfeeding with either my milk (pumped in a bottle) or formula.

I talked about how Emma threw up after I tried to feed her more after she was already full from breastfeeding so I gave up!

I did not supplement.

Instead I breastfed her more often and for a few minutes longer than I was feeding her before.

And guess what....

Emma gained 7oz in 3 days!!!!

Yes, with JUST breastfeeding, no supplementing!!!

I was so proud of myself, she went back to her exact birth weight!

I'm happy I followed my gut and just did what I thought was best for my baby.

Now, I'm not saying I don't listen to doctors, that's not it at all!

And I don't encourage people to just do whatever they want when it comes to their baby's health, but you know your child, use your best judgement.

I knew that supplementing Emma was not working, not only was she already full from breastfeeding, she was throwing up after I tried to supplement her, not spitting up, throwing up! So I felt like that wasn't the best choice for her.

Emma LOVES taking a bath now, I guess the first bath was just scary since I was also trying to figure out the best way to hold her and wash her and get her used to the tub.

She's so quiet and just enjoying it, I wash her hair, her body and she's just quiet and letting me clean her, it's so cute, I need to get it on video so I have this memory to look back at forever.

I was using Size 1 Diapers with Emma since that's what she was using at the hospital, but she's been leaking out of the side so much since the diapers are so big on her, I was changing her outfits every time she peed! So now we are using Size N and it's so much better!

On Thursday (10/8) Emma had a day! She threw up on me after I fed her, like A LOT! Then later on had a poop explosion, so I gave her a bath. I had her on my lap drying her, and she decided to pee AND poop on me! I took it very well though, and just cleaned her up, smiling at the fact that I have the cutest baby ever! Having a baby definitely changed my attitude towards things. It's so funny.

I guess Emma is going through some growth spurt since for the last 2 days (10/9 & 10/10) she's been wanting to eat every 1.5 to 2 hours! Even overnight, she was usually sleeping about 4 hours before she woke up to eat.. Well, not right now... So I hope she goes back to normal soon because this mama is TIRED!!!! Daddy too. This morning I woke up at 9AM to feed her, and I was so exhausted that hubby took her after she ate, and I just slept until past noon when I had to feed her again!
It felt so nice to catch up on some sleep, even though as I type this I could totally nap out lol.

Today (10/10) FSU is playing against UM, I guess that's supposed to be a big deal, I'm not a football fan at all. My brother went to FSU for 4 years, so he got Emma a onesie before she was born.
He flew down for the weekend to visit Emma and today he requested that she wear her onesie lol, so I found my old FSU shirt that I got when I went to Tallahassee for his graduation, and we all matched.
Excuse her bow, it looks messed up in the pic and it's so big!!! But she looked like a boy with that shirt, so she HAD to wear a sparkly bow today, no matter how big!

It's so cute to see how much my brother loves her, too bad he lives so far away!

And this is random, but can I tell you how obsessed I am with The Honest Company?

I want to be their spokesperson lol!

At first my husband thought that it was silly, but he has come to love their products too.

Yeah, they're a little pricier than other baby brands, but I think it's worth the extra money!

Emma wears their diapers, their wipes are amazing, and I use their shampoo/body wash and their body lotion on Emma too. I also use their healing balm when I see that Emma's bottom is a little pink, no diaper rashes here! I used their oil on my belly towards the end of my pregnancy when my belly was itchy, I wash Emma's clothes with their detergent and I have their stain remover spray too.
I just ordered the diaper rash cream and soothing bottom wash, can't wait to get them.

I can't believe Emma will be 4 weeks in 7 days! Time sure is flying, it needs to slow down!

Emma - Week 2

Baby Girl is 2 Weeks Old! Oh my goodness! How?

It feels just like yesterday that I was at the hospital.

I remember giving birth so clearly!

So Emma went back to the doctors at 12 Days Old (10/1) and she had only gained 1oz in 7 days.

The doctor asked me to supplement her after every feeding with either breastmilk (I would have to pump) or formula. I really don't want to give her formula so I started to pump and try to give her my milk in a bottle. Emma was not having it!!! First of all, she eats until she's full, so why am I going to shove a bottle in her mouth? But, I listened to the doctor and tried to feed her after she was done breastfeeding and she vomited so much! I couldn't believe it! It freaked me out, so I honestly just gave up. I'm not going to force feed my baby!
She has a dirty diaper after every feeding, which shows me she's definitely getting food, and she's a happy baby who even sleeps through her feeding times so sometimes I have to wake her up to eat.

The doctor wants to see her back on Monday (10/5), he wants her to be back to her birthweight or more, so that means that she needs to gain 6oz in 4 days... We'll see what happens!

I have been feeding her every 2-2½ hours religiously, meaning that this mama hasn't gotten very much sleep at all. I'm not complaining though! She is so worth it.

Emma's belly button fell out at 8 Days Old, and at 13 Days Old after getting the all clear from the doctor she got her first full bath! :) She didn't love it, and I had to get in the tub with her with all my clothes on to calm her down lol! Then she was fine. Diva.

Emma also saw the rain for the first time, she really loved it and couldn't stop looking at the sky.
She likes being outside, sometimes I take her out when she's cranky and she gets quiet really fast.

Looking at the rain.

I'm so sad that my husband goes back to work on Monday! I'm going to miss him so much.

I think being alone with Baby Girl will be interesting! I wonder how our days will be, just the two of us all day together. I'm going to soak in every second and enjoy it all since soon enough I'll be back to work myself. I do hope she's awake more, since she's still sleeping for the majority of the day.

And as for me, I'm doing better!
I'm almost all healed from giving birth, and Breastfeeding doesn't really hurt anymore, sometimes it still is uncomfortable, especially when she's latching at first, but once she's latched, we're good!
Sleepless nights don't phase me anymore, I guess my body is used to only getting a few hours of sleep every night.

I love that I'm Emma's favorite, and that I can always soothe her with just my voice or by holding her close to me. I hope I'm always her favorite no matter how old she is.

2 Weeks Down and Forever to go! I'm so in love with my baby girl.