Emily's Doctor Visit

Emily went in to see the doctor today - we were concerned about the shape of her head and the shape/size of her abdomen. Her head is kind of elongated toward the back and her tummy looks a little swollen compared to the size of her chest. It turns out both of these things are very very common with preemie babies and they should clear themselves up with time. She was not concerned about Emily at all. We can start putting Emily in the bouncy chair and I can take her out shopping and we can take her to church. The doctor recommended that I carry Emily in a carrier up against me (we have a sling and a Baby Bjorn) so that people won't be tempted to touch her and give her their germs. Shane and I are germ freaks and it really scares us when people touch her without washing their hands (you'd be surprised, it happens A LOT) so the doctor validating our concerns about germs makes me really want to stick to my guns. :)

Emily is 5 weeks old today and has just reached her "due date." That is so crazy to me! She weighs 8 lbs, 1 oz and is almost 21" long. She is at the 50th percentile for length (yay!) and 25th percentile for weight. Those percentiles are for 5 week old babies, and it doesn't take into account that she was preemie at all. I am VERY happy about that! We have stretched out her meals and instead of waking her up to eat every 3 hours we go about 3 and a half or even 4 hours. That may not sound like much of a difference to you but in the middle of the night it is a BIG difference. :) And because she is gaining weight so well, we are sort of waiting for her to tell us when she's hungry and not just offering a bottle because it's time for one. (But don't worry, we don't let her go more than 4 hours. A growing girl's gotta eat!)

The current debate in our house is about getting Emily's ears pierced. I would like to have them done sooner rather than later. Shane wants to wait until she is 8 or 9. And only if she wants to have them done. I asked the doctor about it and she said that it is so interesting because in the south many people think that the baby gets her ears pierced as soon as she gets out of the womb. (She's from the Midwest so that was a real shock to her when they moved to San Antonio.) I had no idea that piercing a baby's ears at a certain age was a regional thing! Anyway, the doctor recommends to either do it when the baby is very young (2-4 months) but not before she gets her first tetanus shot or wait until she is able to understand that she can't mess with her ears and she needs to clean them everyday for a while to prevent infection. Dr. McNair had her daughter's ears pierced in Kindergarten. My fear is that if we wait until Emily is older she might get one done and then get so freaked out that she won't want to have the other one done! Maybe that's just my fear of needles but I can tell you I am grateful to my parents for having mine pierced so young. I was only two days old and I am so glad that I have my ears pierced! I'm glad it was done and I don't remember any of it! So, I will work on Shane. This will probably be as difficult as trying to convince him to get a cell phone. :) I will still try. After all, Emily already has a pair of beautiful diamond earrings courtesy of Grandma Margaret and Grandfather, Sir. (Probably doesn't help my argument with Shane though.) Ha! I wonder what Shane will be like about makeup and dating! :) Poor sweet Emily.

Sharing

I had to share a sweet story about our little boy. Last night, little Emily was crying while Ryan was trying to go to sleep. He gets a bottle every evening and when Daddy went over to pick Emily up, Ryan came over and offered her his bottle. How sweet!! When we can get him to pay attention to her (he usually just acts very uninterested) he will smile at her or try to put his head on her tummy. I think that's his version of a hug.

He has been funnier than normal lately - he does something really cute and then smiles and laughs at himself. Even if he's misbehaving (like climbing in the drawer of the coffeetable) we can't help but laugh at him. He's such a little goober! He also thinks kissing is funny. He'll come over to give me a kiss and then just laugh afterwards. It's so cute.

He's also getting too smart for his own good. He has figured out how to use the remote to knock Emily's bottle off the table so he can have it. And he knows that the remote makes something happen to the TV and he'll push the buttons while aiming it. Maybe we watch too much TV?? He also will bring a pillow over to the couch so he can stand on it to climb onto the couch. Nothing is safe around here!!!!

We are really enjoying our little ones right now. We are so blessed.