Our Little Emily is One Month Old!

Emily turned ONE MONTH OLD on Thursday January 29th! Micah and I can hardly believe it! We waited so long for this precious little princess to join our family and now she has already been here for one whole month! Time surely does "fly on wings of lightening".
Micah and I have really enjoyed getting to know Emily and ourselves even better over this past month too! She has been a great baby (so far). The first couple of nights home from the hospital were a little tough as we were all adjusting, but things have gotten much better. We feed her just before we go to bed (sometimes around 10pm) and then she usually wakes up just once during the night to eat again....definitely can't complain about that!
She is super cute, we just can't seem to get enough pictures of her....everything she does is just SO CUTE! She still sleeps quite a bit, but just recently (within the last week or so) she has been much more alert during her "awake time". She loves to have us read books and sing to her!! She also enjoys listening to Daddy as he reads Harry Potter to us when he comes home from work during her two evening feedings! She also is a big fan of car rides! Although for about the first minute of each car ride she screams as she is trying to remember just how much she likes to "go"!
Emily went to her one month check up on Thursday too! The doctor said that she was a "perfect little baby" (which Micah and I already knew). She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and she was 20.5 inches long. She has gained 1 pound 8 ounces since coming home from the hospital(she had lost down to 6 pounds 3 ounces). And she has grown an inch and a half!
We love Emily so much, she is such a sweet bundle of joy! And she's super cute too! We had a fun little family photo shoot on Thursday night~here are some of the photos we took~

Hats on for the first few photos.

"Mommy, she's wearing my hat!!"


Hats off. We're still working on getting her to smile.


Still not a smile, but cute as can be :)

"Mommy, she's touching me."

Mommy with one-month-old Emily.

Daddy with one-month-old Emily. The bear is a distant memory now.

She's serious most of the time, so we're glad she's learning that photos are meant to be animated.

Our Little Princess in her Blessing Dress!

Yesterday morning Emily and I received a surprise visit from Grandpa Dooders! He didn't have any jobs for the day, so he wanted to come out for a while! He was also nice enough to stop by Sam's and pick up some milk and chicken for us, and then he went by Wal-Mart and picked up an amazing vibrating bouncy seat for Emily! It is one just like theirs. She sat in it on Sunday and LOVED it, so Mommy and Daddy knew we had to get one of our own! And it is working like a charm! I am telling you we definitely have a little girl who LOVES to bounce, the higher the better! Micah and I both think that she will grow up to love roller coasters. Neither of us are huge fans of coasters, but we joke that she will be the one that will be pulling us on all of them at the amusement parks when she gets older! We will see about that:)

When Dooders got to our house, it took us a little while to wake Emily up. She was taking her morning nap, but changing her diaper and her clothes worked like a charm! We changed her back into her blessing dress so that we could do a little photo shoot of her in that precious dress! The photo shoot overall went well. It helped having Dooders here - he was able to get her attention while I snapped some photos. Emily was so patient with her mommy who LOVES to take pictures! I took quite a few shots before she let us know that she'd had enough! We got some really great shots!

And yesterday afternoon when we got home from lunch with Daddy and a visit with our friend, Arielle, Emily got to try out her new seat and she LOVED it! She is so content as long as she is on the move (I guess she takes after her mommy in that area!). Plus she is getting more focused, so it is fun for her to be more upright since she can see the things around her better! She is one amazing little girl. Micah and I learn new things about her every day.

Today I got to read her two books before her nap, and she was wide-eyed the whole time! She loves story time... when she stays awake for it!! Last night we read her a story, and she was asleep by the end of the first page! Guess we tired her out yesterday! She is still sleeping well at night. She wakes up about every 4 hours. Mommy and Daddy are enjoying this schedule quite a bit, we hope it sticks around for a while!


Here are some of the pictures of our little princess in her blessing dress and then a little video of her during tummy time yesterday! She really enjoyed it, much to my surprise!!

One of Emily's Many Expressions!

Staring up at the Ceiling!


LOVE this picture, her expression is too funny!!

Back on Track for some more Photos (Looking up at Dooders)

Our Wide-Eyed Angel

Love how she contorts her body!!

Getting Kisses from Dooders!

Looking Straight Ahead!!

What a precious little girl our Emily Marie!
Looking Around in her new Bouncy Seat!!

3rd time is a charm...Emily's Expression throughout tummy time yesterday!

This is what Emily did for about 5 minutes of tummy time! She is such a content little baby (most of the time!!)

Emily's Blessing Day!!

Yesterday was a special day for our little family. Yesterday was Emily's Blessing Day! Micah was able to take our little infant into his arms and give her a name and a blessing. It was such a momentous occasion and for me, it was one of those pivotal moments. It was one of those events that I had dreamed of and worked toward for many years and yesterday I was able to see it come to pass. I am so grateful to have married my best friend and that he is a man who holds and honors the priesthood and is worthy to bless his family with its' power.

Micah did a wonderful job yesterday with Emily's blessing. The spirit was definitely in the chapel. I felt it, others felt it. Emily was so calm, she didn't even cry during the blessing. She is a baby who LOVES to be bounced, so I had imagined that at some point during the blessing I would look up there and see all of the men in the circle bouncing Emily so high she would almost reach the ceiling. But instead, I think she slept the whole time. What a little sweet princess we have!

We were also grateful that so many members of our family were able to attend sacrament meeting and be there for her blessing yesterday. It really meant a lot to us to be able to fill up two and a half rows with people who love and support us! It was a spiritually uplifting sacrament meeting, an all-around perfect Sunday!

I just want to take this opportunity to bear my testimony. I know that we have a Heavenly Father and Mother who live and who love us. I am so grateful for this knowledge that I have and to know that this earth life is not the beginning or the end of our existence. I am thankful that we have a prophet of God on the earth today, President Thomas S. Monson, and that he has counselors and apostles that help him lead and guide the Lord's church today. I am thankful for the restoration of the priesthood and all of the blessings that have been given to me because of that. I am thankful for the Bible and for the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and I am also grateful that we have prophets and apostles on the earth today that still speak to us and help us know what we should do.

I am grateful for this season of my life as a stay at home mom. I am grateful for my wonderful husband and our sweet little daughter, who helps us understand Heavenly Father's Plan clearer with each new day! I am thankful for special days that help to scatter those extra bits of sunshine that we need to keep us going and keep us on the right path. Life is good. This is my testimony today and I leave it here in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.



Micah has agreed to add his feelings too!

Thanks for your beautiful testimony, Holly. Yesterday was a happy day for me too. I was nervous at first because it was my first time giving a baby a blessing. I lost some of my nervousness and got teary-eyed when we started singing the opening hymn "Because I have been given much I too must give - because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live..."

I feel so blessed to have a loving wife who is also a wonderful mother, and I am so blessed to be the father of a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She is our miracle sent from heaven. She is evidence of the bounteous love that our Heavenly Father has for us.



Here are a few pictures from Emily's Blessing Day (we didn't take any pictures of Emily by herself in her blessing outfit yesterday, so stay tuned, that is on the agenda for today!)

The 3 of Us, Just after Sacrament Meeting

Here we are with Mommers and Dooders


We were so glad that Mummis made it down to the blessing and to see Emily too!

Here are the wonderful men who participated in Emily's Blessing (we are only missing Mike Cummings)

(In the Picture: Nathan, Micah and Emily, Dooders and Matt)



Micah with Emily and all of her cousins that came for the blessing!

(In the picture from left to right: Hannah, Joseph, Micah and Emily, Abigail, Lydia and Nathan)


A Shot of Everyone who came to the blessing (we are only missing Dad, Jeannie, Jessie D. and Avery....they had to leave early because Avery got sick, and Jay.)
~These next photos were taken at the lunch at Mommers and Dooders' house after the blessing~

Nathan and Sarah's kids are so excited to FINALLY have a cousin. Sarah called after she got home last night and wanted us to know that now all of the kids have a stuffed animal named Emily - now you know that is EXCITEMENT!

Joseph and Emily (can you feel the excitement in his smile!)

Hannah and Emily, both on my lap!

Abigail couldn't stop smiling when it was her turn to hold Emily!

Lydia wasn't really sure about the whole thing, but she will be excited when they both get a little older, since they are only a year apart they will probably be the best of friends!

Emily with her Happy Aunt Sarah!

Nathan is pretty excited to be an uncle now too! Love the smile as he cuddles with his sleeping neice on his shoulder!

Ruth and Matt were happy to get to spend some time holding their newest little niece too! And Emily was quite content too!

One last group shot of everyone from NOVA who was able to come to Mommers' and Dooders' house for the dinner after church! We love you guys!

Emily Lifts Her Head!

This week has been a hectic one. On Wednesday Micah came home from work early because his eye was swollen and watery and fire-engine red! And on top of that it was burning and tearing non-stop! We made him an eye appointment at the Wal-Mart Optometrist office and it is a good thing we did. Turns out he had a scratched cornea! We don't know how it happened or when he got it, but they think it was probably an injury from a few months back due to the size, and then it was re-injured recently. After Micah's appointment he decided that his eye felt a little better so he thought he could head back to work. So Emily and I dropped him off there and headed home to get ready for a visiting teaching appointment. Within an hour, Micah called me to ask if I could pick him up after my appointment because his eye was bothering him too badly for him to continue working. He said he realized that day just how important his eyes were in fulfilling his job efficiently! He is a data analyst for a government contracting company and he analyzes images all day long and he does this as he looks at his computer screen all day long!

Micah was unable to return to work this week, but thankfully he is starting to get better now. It has been a rough week trying to tend to a newborn and a husband who has been unable to see. Micah has been trying to keep his eyes closed as much as possible to try to help his abrasion heal. Today has been the first day that he has been able to have his eyes open for most of his waking moments.

That has been our week in a nutshell. Little Emily is doing well. She is growing, growing, growing. We weighed her again yesterday and she weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces. She is a happy and content baby, most of the time. Micah and I read her first book to her today (while she was awake). The book was called Llama Llama Red Pajama. She seemed to really like it. She enjoyed mimicking the baby llama....when the llama was reading a story she was (obviously) reading a story, when the llama started to fret Emily started to fret a little bit, when the llama moaned Emily moaned, when the llama started boo-hooing...yep you guessed it, Emily did too! But the best part was in the end when the llama settled down and went to sleep so did Emily and she has been snoozing ever since. So her first (awake) experience reading with Mommy and Daddy was a good one for little miss Emily!

Emily all snug in her car seat, just chillin' out after Walk Away the Pounds!

Daddy's trying to keep Emily warm inside his jacket and it looks like she's enjoying it too!

Emily has been doing a great job of sleeping in her bed, we thought it would be a nice treat to bring her back to our bed after her morning feeding, since it was Saturday! When I got up at 9:45am, this is what I found and it was too cute to pass up! Love my two night owls!

Looks like they are pretty comfy, huh?

Emily wasn't even ready to start moving at 10 o'clock, she was still in dream land! What a cute little sleeping beauty!

This is a video that we took on Tuesday (Jan. 20th) just after Emily lost her umbilical cord and she was showing off her new skill ~ she's learning to lift her head! Check out her strong neck muscles!!

Friday Afternoon Fun!

In an effort to keep Emily awake for a little longer Friday afternoon ~ since we stayed home that day after having lunch with Daddy ~ I decided to attempt my first fashion show with her, by myself.

She was a pretty good sport and even though she didn't really appreciate me taking her clothes on and off so many times, I think she really enjoyed her bows, shoes, and adorable outfits! She makes some of the cutest faces and has some of the funniest expressions! It is so much fun having a little baby around to play with! Although it is hard work at times, she is a great baby and is blessing our lives and teaching us so much with each new day!

It's hard to believe she is 3 weeks old!! Micah and I have noticed her starting to "fill out" a little more! She weighed 7 pounds when she was born, and dropped down to 6 pounds and 3 ounces by the time she went in for a four-day checkup, and today she weighs 7 pounds 2 ounces! We are excited that she has reached and surpassed her birth weight! We were a little worried when we went to her first doctor's visit because they said she had lost 12% of her birth weight, and they only like to see them lose around 10%. But apparently there was nothing to worry about because our little Emily is doing perfectly! I think her 3 favorite things to do right now are eat, sleep and poop! However she is becoming more aware and alert, and she LOVES to stare at things! She is truly a princess and the most precious little gift from Heavenly Father we could have imagined!

Now here are some pictures from our fashion show....Enjoy!!!

What a little Angel!

Check out her cute little toes! What a stylish little girl she is!!


Relaxed and ready for the next photo!

Showing off her 3rd outfit of the day! Complete with a purple headband!

Seriously, So Done with this Fashion Show! Notice the tightly stretched out legs!!

Emily Moves to Her Own Room!

As new parents we weren't really sure what to do and how to handle Emily's sleeping arrangements when she arrived. When we first came home (almost 3 weeks ago!) we had borrowed a co-sleeper (almost like a pack-n-play) and put it at the foot of our bed and hooked our monitor up to work with it! It worked great, especially as I have been recovering from the c-section and having her close and not having to walk very far has been nice for both Micah and I the past 2 and a half weeks.
But we decided that we should probably try to move Emily into her own room now before she gets older and realizes what is going on. So, we moved her monitor, prepared her crib, gave her a cozy bath (although Emily might not agree about the cozy part), fed her, swaddled her, and laid her down to sleep in her crib in her very own room!
She was still pretty awake when we put her in, so she looked all around and wimpered a little bit and she was out! Sleeping like a little princess on her butterfly sheets! And she slept like a champ too! We put her down around 10:30pm and she didn't wake up until about 3:45am when she got hungry and needed a diaper change and then we got her all taken care of put her back in her bed all cozy and warm and she was out again until I went in to wake her up around 8am so that we could get ready for church!
Micah and I were so impressed with her. She likes her space, and we like for her to have it too! So the first night in her bed was a success and she is taking a nap in their now, and I hear her stirring so I need to go check on her.
One other thing to mention was that we took her to church for the first time today too! And that went really well. Everyone was so happy to see her and so full of compliments and praise on how beautiful she is! And speaking of how beautiful she is, here are a few pictures to display her cuteness!!!

Too cute to pass up....sitting with daddy at the start of bath time ~ love the eyes! (Oh and Micah is not choking her, we promise! That was the position she was most comfortable with.)

How we found her this morning in her crib!! Snug as a bug in a rug!

Exercising with Daddy!

We had a fun night last night! We had a yummy dinner delivered by our dear friends, the Morses. Since dinner wasn't coming until 6, Micah and I thought we would squeeze in a little exercising before! And since Emily had slept most of the day, as she traveled with Mommy and Mommers and Dooders to Waynesboro, she was awake and ready for some action so Micah decided to use her as his weight lifting work out!! It was too cute of a sight for me to pass up so I had to pause and snap some photos and a cute little video!

Also I wanted to add in a little update on our family and how things have been going, as this is Micah's 4th day back at work since Emily was born! Micah is a tired but dedicated daddy, so work is moving along although he says his eyes are a little heavier since he has been back at work than before! He is a great help to me. He usually gets little Emily up at night and changes her diaper before he gives her to me to feed. Then afterwards we take turns as to who burps her and puts her back down, so things are working out well so far!

Emily and I are adjusting to life at home together! We pretty much have a morning schedule down, which is nice, and in the afternoons I spend a lot of time thinking up new ideas to keep her awake so that sleeping will be better in the wee hours of the morning for all 3 of us! But so far she is doing well and only waking up twice at night~and this morning after daddy left I put her in bed with me and we snuggled up to enjoy the rest of her morning nap together! Man, let me tell you she is a little heater! We were so nice and toasty it was hard to wake up, but I knew our little angel needed to eat so I pulled us both out of bed and got her dressed, and now she is content with her cute outfit and a full tummy!

Being a mom is definitely challenging, but having a sweet little bundle to look at, hug, kiss, snuggle up to, watch smile, and just to have fun with makes it all worth it! I love my new career as a stay at home mom!

Now here are a few pictures and the cute video that I got last night of my cute exercising duo! Enjoy!

Little Miss Wide Eyes Marching with Daddy!

Now she's all close and snuggly ~ snoozing away as Daddy continues to March!

Love the Open Eyes & the way she holds her tiny little hands!
Just when we thought her eyes couldn't get any wider....

Out for the count! A successful exercise workout!

Daddy and Emily Exercising together!

We're So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

After 2 wonderful weeks of having a stay-at-home husband and daddy, Micah went back to work yesterday! I started getting nervous for the day probably the Friday before! I wasn't sure I was up to the task, but Micah repeatedly reminded me that this was the day that I had been dreaming of and living for my whole life! I am now a stay-at-home mom! And even though I was really excited about that, I also had tons of new mommy fears!! Would I be able to handle Emily all by myself? What if she got hurt? What if she wouldn't stop crying? What if I started crying too? All these crazy things racing through my mind, but once again the old saying "dreading something is worse than doing it" rang true!
Monday morning came, and even though Emily had a rough night Sunday night we got Micah up and got him out the door for work by 7:30am!! At first I sat down and wondered what on earth we were going to do with our day? Then it was time to feed Emily once again, at that point I sat on the couch and pulled out my scriptures and started to read. The next thing I knew I had a full day planned for us!
We decided to have lunch with Micah, since he works so close to home & it was my first day being able to drive since Emily was born! Lunch was great and it was a fun activity that helped break up the day for all 3 of us (even though Emily slept through Micah's lunch in her car seat!). After lunch we headed into town, stopped by Mema's so that Emily could spend a few minutes with her Great Grandma and her Great Aunt Debra before we headed out to Mommers and Dooders house! It was a nice little visit and Mema and Debra both thought she had grown a little bit, so that was nice to hear! We are working on getting her back up to her birth weight and right now she is at 6 lbs 6 oz!!
When we got to Mommers and Dooders house Emily got her diaper changed and then got fed and then I headed out with my mom to the store so that we could get some more diapers. Emily got to spend some one on one time with Dooders for the first time! They apparently had a blast together, and Dooders even tried to keep her awake for me!!
It was so nice to have Micah around to help out with house projects and to play with Emily and to get to bond together as a family! And it is nice now to start creating a new chapter as we work out being a family of 3 with Micah working full time, me as a stay at home mom and our sweet little Emily!! Heavenly Father sure has blessed our little family and I am so grateful for each of those blessings. Emily and I are learning the words to "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" and it is our new mommy daughter tradition ( for lack of a better word) to sing it every day when Daddy comes home from work! It's all about the small and simple things in life!

Here are a few pictures from the last few days and a cute little video that we took when we came back to Emily after she spent about an hour and a half with Dooders!! Keep Smiling!

One of Emily's Adorable Expressions!

Looking up at Daddy, on the verge of another nap!

All snuggled up with Mommy!

Not a huge fan of the car seat, but once the car gets moving she remembers just how much she likes to go for rides!

Another Cute Shot ~ relaxing in her tub before her 2nd bath!!

A Video clip of one of her first lessons that Dooders taught her!! Grandparents are THE BEST!