Shake, Rattle, and Roll

No, I'm not talking about Emily's movements, but rather her first earthquake. At less than 5 weeks old, Emily's a true California girl having experienced a 3.5 quake already! It only lasted about 10 seconds, just enough for it to register in my head that we were indeed experiencing an earthquake, to assure Emily we were ok, and to wonder if I should bring her under the door frame with me. After the tremor subsided, I decided to research what in fact we should do with a baby in an earthquake. Rest assured, we'll be prepared next time.

In other events this past week, Emily had her one month check-up and is still growing fast! She's in the 75th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference (no foolin'!). We feel proud she's so proportionate :) Selfishly, I'm glad she hit her growth spurt after birth and was only at the 50th percentile when she was born.

This past week Grandma G was here for a visit, but after tomorrow we'll be a household of 3 again for a little while before Aunt Stephanie arrives in July. Hopefully we'll go on some outings this holiday weekend and have some more pictures to post soon!

a

happy father's day!

we had a wonderful first father's day! Emily surprised me by dressing up in her (and my) favorite onesie. Notice the red in her hair? I think Grandma Dickson would be proud! Depending on the light, Emily's hair looks red, blonde, or brown. Time will tell as to what it actually turns into.

Once we did get out of the house, we drove across the bay bridge to Oakland and walked around a favorite spot of ours - Lake Merritt. There's always a good amount of bird watching to be done and today didn't disappoint. Beside the endless throngs of canadian geese and pigeons, we saw a group of white pelicans land and hunt for fish. One did get tricked by a goose feather. Apparently they aren't as smart as I thought they were.

Here's Emily enjoying the sun. The stroller did have to go off-roading quite a bit, but Emily hung in there like a little trooper. We may have to outfit that stroller with bigger wheels for future trips.

After our stroll around the lake, we went to Fenton's for lunch and ice cream. Emily was on very good behavior so we treated her to a milkshake.

-M 

time for ice cream

As little Emily contently lays by my side on our bed, just watching me sit, type and eat a popsicle, I'm really thinking that Amy and I are pretty lucky. Besides the occasional outburst that usually means Emily is hungry or trying go to the bathroom, she's generally a very happy baby who loves to watch her Mom walk around and enjoys listening to her Dad sing goofy songs. So far. Knock on wood.

Grandma Peterson is here this week and has made it possible for Amy and I to enjoy some downtime. On, Sunday, we braved the heat and walked a mile to Mitchell's Ice Cream Parlor on Valencia. I'd never been before and now wonder how I could've avoided such an amazing place for the past 9.5 years. My scoop of sweet coconut ice cream had bite-size chunks of coconut! Delicious. Amy opted for the Praline ice cream and the couple bites I stole reminded me of the candied pecan treats we'd get in Louisiana.

Another funny Emily anecdote - she's starting to fake sneezes. She'll have a fit of several sneezes at once and then add another of her yelling for good measure.

Uh oh. She's making zombie eyes (rolling into the back of her head). Time to put her to bed. She's still fighting her cold, after all.

-M

holding down the fort

Today was my first day back at work. It is very hard to believe that the past two weeks of Emily's life have already passed by and that my "bringing home the bacon" duties have to resume. While it was only a half day, it still felt difficult leaving. The day's best moment was coming home and walking in to a smiling Amy and a sleeping Emily - great success! It filled me with a lot of pride and happiness to hear that Amy managed just fine.

In other news, Emily has the worst congested nose. Every breath she takes sounds like she's got a throat full of saliva. We've heard that near the one month milestone, she starts to develop more saliva and the congested sounds are normal. And with her heightened growing abilities (ha ha), it's very possible she's two weeks early with that as well. The good news is that we have a weight check tomorrow at the pediatrician so should be able to find out how bad the congestion really is and if we can use our suction plunger on her. Fun!

Happy two week birthday, Emily! How can it feel like a year ago that I cut Emily's umbilical cord, and yet feel like it was just yesterday that we left the hospital? Weird.

-M

More weekend cuteness

She loves her blanket! She loves it so much, moments later she spit up on it.

Mom & Emily napping.

-M

What we've learned so far...

Emily has come a long way in the past 9 days.

What do we know about her so far?

She often doesn't know when to stop eating! This may be a contributing factor as to why she's already exceeded her birthrate a week early and is hovering around 8.5 lbs. Well done!

She loves being held. Her little cries are often quelled when one of us picks her up and cradles her.

She loves going for walks and car rides. Today she went shopping for outfits with her parents in Noe Valley and then to Trader Joe's. Yesterday, she went to Babys R Us and Target. The previous two days she went for walks down Cortland Ave.

She's also a very good sleeper (so far). Her Mom & Dad got 8 hours of sleep last night!

-M

Umm.

I just witnessed 8 day old Emily roll over on to her stomach in her crib this morning. She stayed there for about a minute and then proceeded to roll back on to her back. I hope that's normal.

-M