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Living the Life

It's been forEVER since I posted. Life's been moving so fast since I decided to start up my fabulous photography business. Two part time jobs and a full time job (mommy-hood) has kept me quite busy. Let's catch up:

Jesse is 6 months and 3 weeks old!

Eating: when last we left, Jesse was just doing cereal and had tried Avocados. Since then, he has had sweet potatoes (which he loved, but we're a little thick so it lasted a long time after I thinned out the batch I had), Peas (which did not go over well, but he ate them), Bananas (he had a few tries at gumming from our whole bananas and then he had a week of puréed which he ate right up). He has also had a taste of watermelon and Nana loves to give Jesse a little taste of lemonade.
At his last appointment, however, we were sure his complaining and screaming fits were teething related, , but when his doctor informed us his teeth are nowhere close (ugh...) she suggested going off solids for a week. Well he was cleansed out pretty well, but he has been eating every 2.5 hours around the clock. Needless to say, we are starting cereal back up this week. Which brings us to....

Sleeping: He is taking a short morning nap between 8 and 10 depending on when he wakes up, a noonish nap, a longer 3:00 nap and sometimes a short nap around 6 to get him to his bedtime which is 8:00 every night. During the milk cleanse he was up at 11pm, 2 or 3am and 5:30 with a wake up time around 7. Last night he slept through the night though!! First time in almost a month! It felt really nice.

Playing: he is ready to move! Jesse is getting great at sitting, falling to his belly from sitting, pushing up to all fours, and scooting backwards. As much as he hates tummy time still, he hates not being able to move around even more. He is in love with tags. You can put any toy in front of him and he will just go for the tag of it. He also loves to play with anything that isn't a toy. My phone, my water bottle, wipes, straws... He wants to grab them all.

Me! I've been going and going! Working on the weekends, taking jesse on stroller walks in the afternoon, editing photos after Jesse falls asleep. I LOVE being a photographer by the way. Every bit of it. It makes me feel so excited every time I think about it! Being able to do something I love and make it what I do. Check my website for updates and sneak peeks! Www.EmiBphotography.com
We just spent the afternoon putting together new porch furniture for Nana and it's so lovely out here right now. In fact, I am soaking up the setting sun and fresh air on the new love seat right now!
Here are a bunch of fun pictures from the iPad!
Enjoy!

5 days until 5 months

Life is so regular and simple, it's perfect.

Eating: Basically we are amazing at breastfeeding, it's a breeze. We are adding wheat cereal to his nightly routine. Avocados went over pretty well when we mixed it into the cereal. I want to add another food to his list, but I don't know which to go to. I'm thinking sweet potato or banana. Banana would be much easier, but I have to find my Baby Bullet recipe book and see what it says.
I can't wait to use this:



Yay for making baby food!

Sleeping: I used to have to walk him around and bounce for EVER until he was fast asleep, place him in the swing and pray he doesn't wake up so I could eat or pee or close my eyes for a moment. Now I put him in the swing and go do something, mostly doing dishes or laundry, and I look over to find he is asleep! It's so magical. This is great that we are doing this for naps. Night time is a little different, but it lasts longer so I don't mind rocking him in his rocking chair a little until he is mostly out.
He wakes up maybe 2 times a night for snacks and falls asleep again just like that. He takes a good morning nap around 9 (sometimes a noon nap if his morning nap was short or early) and a good afternoon nap around 2 or 3. (sometimes another quick nap around 5). Bed time is around 7. This has been staying pretty consistant, which I LOVE.
The next big thing is doing the big switch to the crib. o.o I don't know if I'm ready for that...

Playing: Jesse is great at sitting now. Sometimes he leans forward too much and basically is resting on his big ol' belly, but he knows about keeping himself up if he starts to fall a certain direction. Rolling is our new thing. He can put most of himself on his side, it's just that leg, if he can kick it over, he would have it. He still loves his jungle, the car and Mortimer. OH and don't forget Sophie, he takes her everywhere too... gadda chew on those ears of hers.
Tummy time is still an issue... he is still fussy and spits up within 5 minutes of being on his belly. Even when we try belly to belly (so it's not as hard as the floor) and he still wasn't having it.

Me!: ugh work started up. Ok, yeah it's great that we are making more money and yeah I'm getting up and seeing people and what not, but it's exhausting! All the walkinggg and carrying... I'll get back into shape soon, but it's the process that's painful.
But this my last year.
Wait, what?!
Because we are moving back to MARYLAND. BOOM.
Matt and I decided that it was time to get back to our roots, back to where we belong. The beach is great, it was our favorite place to visit, but now that we live here it's lost what we loved. Not to mention Alex (Matt's little brother)'s son is due TOMORROW and we want Jesse and Grayson to grow up together.
So this brings me to my next bit of news.
I am starting my own business of Newborn and Baby Photography!

EmiB Photography

I am currently taking clients in the Montgomery County, Frederick area as of November 1st. I will make special trips up if I need to come up earlier. I wouldn't pass up the chance to photograph a fresh new baby!

I've already had one client and I had so much fun. I have 3 newborns on the calendar, and a few babies and kids too. I can't wait.

Oh the wonders of technology....

I'm testing out my Blogger app! This might mean new big things and lots more posts! It seems great so far!

Ok eating: Jesse and I are just being amazing at breast feeding. We started nursing laying down in bed at night, it's more relaxing for me and I don't lose as much sleep, since sometimes I doze off. Jesse has always been a substantial little guy, it would be impossible to roll over on him. OH AND ALSO we started SOLIDS!! Can you believe it!? Whole wheat rice cereal mixed with breast milk, he is really good at taking a spoon. At first, he didn't really get it, but now he loves it! He leans towards anything you're eating now and wants to grab at your spoon. We are planning on mashing up some avocado for him soon! Real food. Wow.

Sleep: I think he's been teething because he has been waking up to nurse a few times a night. He is currently waking up from a 2 1/2 hour nap! We are starting to get consistent naps.

Playing: Jesse is getting so close to sitting up on his own. He got a new car jumper toy and loves to grab at things. His auntie Katie got him Mortimer the moose and he takes it everywhere!

Me! So I got my hair cut finally!! I love love LOVE it! I'm almost ready to unveil my big news, but its gonna be exciting when I tell you guys!

IPad pictures!!!
Let's see how this post works out!

Lilian Grace Give Away!

lilian.grace: its my birthday! {almost} 6k birthday party giveaw...: the last few months have been quite a journey! i just want to say that i very much appreciate the old friends that have stuck by me through...

Tons of amazing photography stuff!

Four Months?!

Wow... time is flying by!

Eating: So the biggest and most important update in this category is we stopped using the nipple shield!! Yes, it was small and it helped in the beginning, but then it became a problem, it was a pain in the butt and it prolonged the healing process. One day, he was so hungry I decided to try it and sure enough, he got it! And we have been shield-less for 3 days and going strong. I'm so proud of the both of us. Two months ago I never would have thought I would still be exclusively breast feeding, and here I am. I am trying to work on freezing some milk for when I go back to work (which is unfortunately speeding towards me). He is still drinking 6 oz every 2-3 hours. Except for at night... which brings us toooo:

Sleeping: Jesse has been a consistently great sleeper. He takes a morning nap, an afternoon nap and goes down between 7-9. Two nights in a row, he slept from 8 to 7 AM STRAIGHT. 11. hours. I was floored. He woke up once this morning at 4 which is totally fine. We do need to develop a more structured night time schedule even though he has pretty much been consistent for the most part.

Playing: He loves his jungle more than ever now that he can reach all the animals and bat them around. His Aunt Katie got him Mortimer the Moose! He has tons of stuff going on and it keeps Jesse occupied. PLUS he can hang on the car seat. Speaking of car seat, Jesse finally grabbed the bird toy and pulled it towards him! I was so excited. He is sitting up better and better and can hold a crunch for a while in attempts to go from lying down to sitting up. We are still working on tummy time because more than 4 minutes of it leaves him fussy for a while, but it's getting better.

Me!: I have some new mom friends! We met a while back when we were all pregnant and attending birth talk meetings. Now we go to a monthly breast feeding group. Since we all talked so much, we decided to meet more than once a month at each others houses for play dates. We also have a twice weekly stroller walk around the Wright Brother's Memorial when it's nice out. It's really nice to be able to talk to other mom's who are going through the same exact stuff since our little ones are all the same ages.
I got my hair cut!! Finally right?! It took me about 3 seconds to wash and dry it today, which I love and I'm donating it again, so it feels good to help someone else.
This morning, while I was in the shower (doing some of my best thinking as always). I was reminded at how much of a mess I was four months ago. Pushing a human out of your body is no small feat, and it's a wonder how many people act like it's not the most naturally difficult thing ones body could do. I was still extremely itchy, my leg was so sore I couldn't move it, I was exhausted, nauseous, trying to keep at least 500 calories in me to break even after trying to breast feed... it is hazy looking back at those days. Now, I'm beginning to start to think about things for me again. Starting slow with the hair cut and taking walks. I might make a few personal goals. My small breast feeding goal of making it to his 4 month appointment looks well within my reach, looking towards my medium 6 month goal. Once food is steadily in his diet, it will make my ultimate goal of a year a bit easier to achieve. Plus, once I reach my goal (aka as long as I can breast feed), I will buy myself an automatic coffee machine (like a Keurig or a Tassimo... I'm still researching my options).
Well it's late. Because of Day Light Savings, it's now 11:41 even though it only feels like 10:41... so I will leave you with a few pictures. Matt (read We) just got a new computer so the only two things I have at the moment are also hints into my new project I mentioned a little bit ago...



Jesse!



Our cute little family.

14 weeks old!

I'm too tired to think up something clever...

Eating: We are still exclusively breastfeeding! Powering through all the minor aches and pains. He weighed 14 1/2 lbs at the doctors yesterday so he's definitely not having trouble growing or eating for sure. It always makes me feel good to hear that from doctors. I did tell her about Jesse's tendency to get fussy around 45 minutes to an hour after he eats, and she suggested trying an elimination diet to see if anything is upsetting his digestion. So we are starting today with lactose and whey for 3 weeks and see if he feels better.

Sleeping: He has had some great nights. 10 hour stretches sometimes. Usually he does 8 hours, a snack at 5am, and then 3 more hours! But the past few days, he's been up 3 times a night to eat. I'm thinking growth spurt, Matt doesn't want to hear me say 'growth spurt' ever again because it's my reasoning for everything. Whatever it is has been keeping us up a lot lately.

Playing: Jesse has found a new love, his index finger. He has not only found his hands, but is smart enough to isolate his finger and put it in his mouth to chew on it. He is also getting really good at sitting up against pillows by himself and pushing himself up from slanting to sitting up! Doctor says we need to do more tummy time even though he hates it. It will help him develop faster (and have better handwriting in the future- crazy!) she showed us how rolling a small blanket under his chest takes the pressure off his belly. He still loves his jungle animal thing!

Me! : Valentine's day was nice! It started off with Jesse and I attending the monthly Breastfeeding Bistro. I got the ladies heart shaped donuts from DD, and there was a great turnout. When I got home, Matt said we have reservations at 6:30 so we spent the day playing with Jesse and around 5, I got ready (skinny jeans, dangly earrings, heels, the whole deal). We took Jesse to Nana's but it was already 6:30! Matt was all "we're going to be late!"... But after we turned back on to our street, I realized we were eating at home. Matt had put music on and had 2 dozen long stem red roses on the table. We lit candles, I drank wine and watched as he made me a delicious meal consisting of fillet mignon, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and salad. I had fun dipping strawberries in chocolate while eating my appetizer of bread in that delicious Italian seasoning-olive oil. Mmm. We had a lovely, quiet dinner and then watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother while eating the strawberries. Jesse slept (in his car seat) from 10:00 when we got back home, until 5:30!
I'm pretty sure I'm cutting my hair tomorrow. Eek!

Jesse's up! Time to feed him!