Catch up

Once again, I have a lot to catch up on! It has been almost a month since my last post and I will be lucky to remember half of what has happened in the mean time. The next few blogs are going to be catch up from the past month.

Esme learned to sit on her own about a week after she turned five months. We were at our play group and someone asked if she could sit. If I am being honest, I hadn't even thought about it! She always sits in her bumbo and plays laying on her back. I gave it a try and...what do you know! She can sit! Who knows how long she had been hiding this trick from Mama!





Stephen, Ez and I discovered Liberty State Park. It is literally in our back yard and we can't believe it took us so long to find it! It has a beautiful walk with stunning views of the city and the Statue of Liberty.











Making a new Friend (both Ez and Mama)

We met Savannah (aka Savvy) and her mommy Krystal at our apartment's play group. Our play group meets very sporadically so Krystal and I thought it would be fun to get the girls together on a more regular basis. We have a lot of fun going to the pool, going on walks and playing at each others homes. Savvy is nearly a year old and it is so much fun to watch Ez look up to her! We are extremely happy to have found a friend :)

Five months old!!!!

Miss Esme Jean is five months old!

We went to the doctor and everything is looking good! I am still exclusively breastfeeding and the doctor said there is no reason to start solids yet- she is content and happy and not begging for more food when she gets done nursing. My goal is to exclusively breastfeed for 6th months (that is what is recommended) and then introduce solids. FUN!

Here are her measurements from her 5 month appointment:

Height: 26.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds 8 ounces (75th percentile)

She has met all of her milestones (rolling over, reaching for things, putting things in her mouth, bearing weight on her legs, "talking") and the doctor said she is a healthy, happy girl!

Another exciting thing is that Ez didn't even cry when she got her shots this time! She got two shots (DTaP and HIB) and did not shed a tear. She didn't even notice the first one! She almost got upset on the second but I popped her binky in her mouth and she was fine! This is a massive improvement from what usually happens (a ten minute screaming fit!)!

Art 5 months, Esme...

LIKES

Smiling and Laughing at everything and everyone
Her bouncer
Avent Binks
Being held (upright)
Having lotion applied
Sophie the Giraffe teether
"Talking" and shrieking
Walks
Car Rides
petting cow cat


DISLIKES

Putting clothes on (especially onesies)
Being strapped into her carseat
non avent binks
Tummy Time
mean black cats

We have had a lot of new things going on the past few weeks. Grandma Julie had to go home to help Grandpa Gordy. Grandpa Gordy had heart surgery and Grandma Julie wanted to be there to help him around the house and with his race car. We really miss Grandma Julie.

We have had a nanny come and take care of Esme while I am at school. It is a really nice benefit that Stephen's work offers that we just found out about! We get 20 days of emergency nanny care per year and we can either take her into a daycare center or have someone come to our home and look after her. We decided on in home care for several reasons and we only have to pay $6 an hour! Stephen's work picks up the rest of the bill! Esme's nanny's name is Annalisha and she is great with her. Ez really seems to enjoy their time together.

My last finals are on Monday and Wednesday of next week and then I have a month of online courses. I am still debating on whether or not I am going to attend the second session of summer school.

Esme's first trip to the zoo!
Stephen and I took Esme to the zoo for the first time. It wasn't a very exciting zoo (the most exotic animal they had was a tamarin monkey) but we enjoyed walking around and looking at the animals. It was a beautiful day out! I even took a tumble and have lovely bruises on my elbow to show from it. We did the entire zoo in less than an hour...but I think that is pretty good for a zoo that had a common crow in a cage on display!!

The entrance to the zoo


Daddy, Ez and the sleepy porcupine.


The family



I was combing Ezzy's hair today and I noticed that it is now past her shoulders! She has lost a bit in the back due to rubbing while she sleeps but the sides are really long! I can even put them into pig tails now! I just need to get the correct rubber bands for her hair (mine are too big!).



My attempt at pig tails with my pony tail holders (not a happy girl!)


A few of my favorite pictures from the past week or so...

Way behind!

So, once again, I am way behind on my posts!

Esme has grown a ton in the past few weeks and on April 29th she rolled over for the first time! I didn't catch the first roll on video (I tried for a long time!) but I did get some good footage of her trying to crawl! I also caught her fake cough on camera- finally! It is soooo cute!

She seems a lot more interested in trying to crawl than rolling. Here is a video of her lifting herself up and trying to crawl- if only she could coordinate those little arms!



Here is a video of her fake cough. She loves making noises and especially loves to cough. We don't even know where she got it! None of us have been sick, so we are baffled! Our best guess is that she just like to hear herself.



Esme Rolling over...


We have been having amazing weather this spring and try to make the best of it. We like to go on the walks around our complex. There are stunning views of the city and Staten Island and we like looking at all of the different birds. We also took a stroll around the 9/11 memorial at the end of the peninsula we live on. It was donated to the USA by Russia in honor of those who died in the attacks on NYC. It is very beautiful, especially on a sunny day!

A heron (I think?) on our walk.


Peeper Jean in her summer outfit!


The beautiful golf course by our apartment complex


The view of NYC on our walk (smoggy but nice)


The 9/11 memorial (you can see the financial district where the WTC was through the crack with the tear drop)






Another new trick of Esme's is sucking on her toes. She is teething and will suck on anything she can get her hands (or feet) on!



My first Mother's day!

Brent flew in to visit my mom and we have been enjoying his company. He is staying for a week and absolutely adores Esme Jean.

I spent my first mother's day with Esme, Stephen, my Mama and Brent. We travelled to Hershey, PA and went to the chocolate factory and the amusement park! We had a really great time and I can't wait to go back someday!

On Sunday (actual Mother's day) we wen to an Amish Village in Pennsylvania. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about a culture we knew little about!

Chocolate World (Sounds like a dream come true to me!)




A view of the coaster tracks


Esme's first carousel ride!!!




Hershey is a beautiful town and we fell in love with it. I think we should move there so that I can get a job as chocolate taster! The park was extremely well maintained and was not too busy. We really enjoyed ourselves. I got a pretty good sun burn too!

A beautiful amish village on a beautiful spring day! I even got a wave from an amish family in a horse and buggy as they drove past! It reminded me of my childhood visits to Michigan and all of the amish buggies I would see during Christmas time.



It was nice to see another breastfeeding mom on Mother's day! ;)


Daddy and Ez in an amish buggy


Esme in an amish bonnet. Hilarious!


Stephen the amish school master


The weekend was brilliant but this is a sad week. My Mama had to fly home to help Grandpa Gordy out. He had to have 3 stints put in his heart and needs to rest. It was a close call but they think they caught his heart issues before he had chance to have a heart attack.

Brent and I drove my mom to Philadelphia International Airport today (tickets were half price from Philly) and she should be back in Seattle around 8 tonight. We really miss her already and hope that she comes back soon. In the mean time, we will have a nanny from Stephen's work come to our home and look after Ez. It makes me a little uncomfortable having someone I don't know looking after my angel but I only have a few more days of school left and then I have a month of online classes and I can look after her.

Here is a great video of one of Esme's new tricks- she chews like an old man with his dentures out! Too funny!



Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past weeks:

Mad hair (after a day with her first "whale spout")










I spent a day making flower headbands for Ez. They are really expensive in stores so I thought I would be creative. They didn't turn out as great as I would have liked but they are still fun!

Week 16

My baby angel is 17 weeks old today. At this rate, I am going to be 60 in no time!

Esme had her 3 month doctor's appointment on April 15. It actually turned out to be her 4 month appointment because it got delayed by a week due to our trip to London and then delayed again because I thought it was on a Friday when it was, in fact, on the Thursday and I had to reschedule for a week later...OOOPS!

Here is what the Dr Had to say:

Weight: 15 pounds 7 ounces (75-90 percentile)
Height: 25.5 inches (75-90 percentile)
Head: 42.5 cm (above 90 percentile)

The doctor said that her height growth was above normal but that she is staying consistently in her 75-90 percentile. She said she is getting tall quickly because both Stephen and I are fairly tall. Dr also said that she is very proportionate and is very healthy. I was also warned that she could start rolling any day...mommy beware!

I told the dr that she has been having a little mucous in her stool and she told me that Esme most likely has a dairy intolerance. This means I have to lay off of the dairy and take a calcium supplement to see if it helps. Doesn't sound like a big deal but to a girl who drinks at least two pints of milk with her dinner....it is HUGE.

So far there is no need to start Ez on rice cereal. She is still sleeping through the night like a pro and seems perfectly happy with what the mama milk cow has to offer.

Meeting Great Grandpa WIl

My Grandpa Wil had to make an emergency business trip to Buffalo and was able to stop by and spend his 66th birthday with us. This is the first time in 35 years that my Grandpa Wil and Grandma Mardine were not together on his birthday so we were excited to have him. We went to a local italian bakery and bought him an amazing chocolate cake and planned on taking him to dinner at Houlihan's (a local favorite of ours). Unfortunately, something came up and he had to shoot back up to Buffalo (a 7 hour drive!) before dinner time.

On a whim, we all decided to hop in the Elantra Friday night and drive to Buffalo to spend more time with him and see Niagara Falls. We had been planning on visiting Niagara Falls in the near future and thought that this was as good an excuse as any! Stephen loved seeing the falls. We went up the Skylon on the Canadian side and got some pretty good pictures of the waterfalls. It isn't every weekend that you get to see one of the 7 wonders of the world!

The drive was long and the stay was short but it was worth it. We got to spend a little more time with Dad/Grandpa/Great Grandpa Wil and we got to do some sightseeing on top!

Great Grandpa and Esme




Horseshoe Falls from the Skylon


Mommy and Ez


Niagara Falls


Grandma and Esme


Mommy, Daddy and Ez


Esme is a champion road tripper and slept pretty much the entire time. We didn't have to stop any more for her than we would have done on our own- thats our girl!

picture of the week: