2 Months Old

My goal was to be all caught from our trip to Idaho by now so I could spend a leisure time sweetly contemplating my darling and her development right now. I really don't think I have unrealistic expectations of myself at the moment, yes I do have a large "wanna do" list that I'm itching to get to but that's because I have felt so much better the last few weeks. And my back? It's been phenomenally better (if you ignore the hiccup that was yesterday). But then there is that sweet, unpredictable, brain-has-yet-to-develop-regular-sleep-patterns babe of mine. As a friend recently reminded me,"you know you have a newborn, right? Seriously, you are crazy."

So shall we talk about sleep? Emiline has slept twice through the night. One of those was from 10:30 to 6:00 am!!! I, of course, woke up every 2-3 hours to check on her and wish she would nurse... So far this week, however, she's slept well until 2 or 3 and then stayed mostly awake until 6:00 am. Argh! She is still sleeping in our bed, which up until now, has been really fun. She's a little cuddle bug and doesn't keep me up (again, ignore this week). However, she hasn't yet learned to sleep by herself well. So we've started a bit of sleep training this week that has been working really well for naps, knock on wood. As I type, she is screaming in her bassinet and it's killing me (but so is the sleep deprivation). Yes, it's easier with #2, but still hard. So we've got some sleep stuff to figure out.

As for stats:
Height- 22 3/4 in (70th %)
Weight- 10 lbs 15.5 oz (50-55th %)
Head- 38.9 cm (50-55th %)

She's rolled over a few times already, from belly to back. She's crazy strong, her legs especially. She's always kicking them around and socks are a necessity or her little footsies get cold from all the action. She's starting to like toys, mostly just her play mat so far. Often she hates being left alone, or even if there is no one in eyesight or earhearing (?, yep, made up that word.)

She likes to be out and about and does really well on errands, at the gym, at her cousins. She's such a sweet little smiler and just tickles me with how wide her grins get.


Big sister is now 2 months old in her sisterhood, too. I'm so proud of her! She's really seemed to calm down in the last week or so. She's so helpful. She LOVES to help change baby diapers and "play" with her on her playmate (she will lay down next to her and kick so the motion sensor goes off and plays music). After family prayer, she always remembers to give baby sister a kiss and then says "Mank (thank) you, baby sister." Anytime Emiline makes any kind of coo, no matter where Jane is she will laugh and mimic it. She seems to have come to grips with me taking care of to girls instead of one. And she's really seeming to be OK with becoming a big girl. She's wearing panties at the moment (more on that in another post, at some point, hopefully).

So, minus the sleep deprivation and the large "wanna do" list that is haunting me (see, up until I married Eric, I measured my worth by my productivity. I didn't question the healthiness of that perspective until Eric. I've since tried to change that...still working on it... not doing things still equals a bit of worthlessness), we are doing pretty darn good. I'm grateful to have my two beautiful girls and my wonderful husband with me everyday, not to mention supportive extended family near and far and far, far away.

Music Tastes are Genetic

It was fun to see Jane have such specific taste in music from the time she was just a few months old. Emiline has also developed specific preferences. I stumbled upon it by accident, Emiline was screaming as we got in the car, which Eric had driven last so the radio was set to 104.1 - or the 80s Bop Your Head Station - and it was magic, Emiline stopped crying. It is working more and more regularly and today the song that calmed my Rhys-a-Roo? Video Killed the Radio Star. Eric is thrilled. Mom is controlling her eye rolling and conceded to whatever makes her baby happy. We now have a Pandora station in her honor.

Emiline's Blessing

Looks like we will be working backwards a bit. I had wanted to doctor up these pictures a bit before posting them, but if I wait to do that, it'll be too long...


Emiline Rhys Ludlow was given a name and a blessing on July 11 at the congregation I grew up in, Springdale Idaho. Eric teased me about how big the circle of brethren would end up being. With Jane, it was very, very small and at my sister's house which while not a disappointment exactly, but definitely anti-climatic after all the work on the dress and the waiting. It was definitely fun to have so many friends and mentors there for Emiline's. My remaining grandparent, my mom's dad was there,
my surrogate Grandpa-our neighbor across the street, my old bishop, the current bishop, my dad, and all but one of my brothers stood in the circle. It was a really sweet blessing, even though she wailed through the whole thing. After it was over, the brother conducting the meeting made a joke about her really being a Monroe because she was trying to sing.

The reason we had such a great turn out was that we piggy-backed on the return and report of this guy:


My little bro returned from the Merida, Mexico mission (the Yucatan peninsula) a few weeks before. He's a pretty awesome kid and everyone is in love with him, so of course pretty much everyone was there.

For her dress, we actually "refashioned" (since that's all the rage now) the dress I was blessed in that my mom made. I just picked off the lace and added a ruffle and some trim leftover from my wedding dress. I didn't sew the base for Jane's dress either, mom did. It would seem that I don't really sew, just embellish...even just doing that much was monumental for me (in both cases) because I'm dumb and don't think about making the dress til after the baby comes. Both times I was up late and early to work on them and I was exhausted both times (see below). It turned out to be just gorgeous, in my opinion. And Emiline was wide awake and in a great mood so we got some fun faces of her:

Crappy Movies

It seems like I haven't seen a single good chic flick/romantic comedy since I got married. This comes up because as a nursing mom of a newborn, I am forced to either stare off into space a lot, read, or watch stuff in 45 minute chunks. I've come to the conclusion that either 1) There haven't really been any good chic flick/romantic comedies since I've been married or, and Eric prefers this explanation, 2) Married life is just so good that romantic comedies are crap in comparison.
Thoughts?
Movie suggestions?

Photo Shoot Today

So my mom for some reason took formal pictures of all her kids at 6 weeks. Seems like a good age, still a cutey wittle baby, but had enough time to weather the storm of labor and delivery a bit.

I decided to do the same and while taking them at JCPenny's was my second choice (my first choice was having the amazing wife of an old high school friend take them, you can see her great work here and if your in Utah, lucky, lucky you. The flu prevented us from doing many planned things while on our vacation...sigh...more on that later), the pictures did turn out pretty dang good.

It helps that Emiline is a little smiler, especially to strangers. She smiled like crazy at the photographer and wouldn't crack a one for me. Of course I bought very, very few pictures, but I can post a bunch here for us all to admire at no charge!

Back in Town

So we flew home from Idaho on Monday. I've got a lot of catching up to do, but it's going to take a while. In the meantime, here or a few of the pictures we did take in Idaho. Seems like I only pulled the camera out ONCE the whole time. And for what monumental event compelled me to take it out? Emiline's bath. No kidding. Every time I bathe that child she cries, but if Grandma Julie does it, it's somehow the mystical, wonderful experience and she coos the whole time.
And why do I not pull my camera out more often? Well, part of it is that it's so big and doesn't take as good of pictures as my sisters', and part of it is the constant, high-pitched request of "camewa, camewa, camewa" than Jane starts up as soon as she sees the thing. It's a battle nearly every time. On the plus side, I can usually convince her to let me take one good picture before she demands to see it.

More With the Teething

Bet you thought this post would be about Jane...well, she's still cutting those 2-year molars and tells me her "guns huwt."

Guess who already has her first tooth? At 6 weeks old, Emiline has her bottom right tooth. And the bottom left is nearly out, too! Next time she's screaming and I've got the camera out, I'll snap one for you. Puts a whole new meaning on "they grow up so quickly!" I'm kind of freaked out, actually.