celebrating 4

here are some pictures of emma celebrating her 4th birthday ...

happy 4th birthday!

i cannot believe that is was four years ago today that we were given the most wonderful christmas gift ever . . . sweet little emma. after three months of bed rest (one month at home, and two in the hospital), we were surprised to find out i was 5 cm dilated after my water had broken on the morning of december 26. the dr looked at me and said, "we're having a baby today." i started to cry ... first, tom had left the hospital, so i was afraid the baby would arrive before he got back. (i had no idea how long labor could last!! in the movies, they say 5 cm dilated and the baby arrives in the next scene!!) and, i also was crying because i knew how early this was for me to be in labor.



at least 10 hours after my water had broken, emma kristine arrived. she was seven weeks early. she weighed only 4 lbs, 9 oz! she was so little. we were so afraid we would break her when we held her. she spent 15 days in the hospital ... one day in NICU and the rest of the time she was in the special care nursery learning to breathe, suck, and swallow at the same time (preemies don't have all the reflexes to do those three things at once). we were so nervous when they told us we could take her home. and, in fact, within five minutes of us getting home with her, i turned to tom, started to cry, and said, "i don't think i can do this. i think we need to go back to the hospital."!!! ok, am i the only first-time mom who's said that?? i was terrified, but somehow, here she is turning four years old today.

she was definitely a miracle . . . a beautiful, most precious gift. she is full of life, so sweet and funny. looking at her today, you would have no idea that she arrived in this world so early. i think she was just eager to get busy in this world!



happy birthday emma!

merry christmas!

we enjoyed our christmas together. with two kids now, it was even more fun ... and more full of presents under the tree. this was the first year where emma was very aware of what was going to happen. she was asking about presents under the tree as soon as we put the tree up!

we celebrated a little both christmas eve and christmas day. tom's family celebrated on christmas eve when he was little, so we continue some of the traditions from his family on christmas eve now. tom prepared swedish meatballs (he makes turkey ones for emma and i!), potatoes, gravlax, herring, and eggs. it was delicious. on christmas day, we continue some of my family's traditions. it's fun to continue some of those traditions, while making our own new ones as well.

emma was very eager to start opening her presents christmas morning. before we were all ready, she ran over to the tree and started looking for gifts with an "e" on it ... we told her to look for her name on the gifts to know which ones were hers. anyways, we were still giving isabella breakfast and she was peeking at all the gifts. i looked over and she had one on her lap. i told her she needed to wait just a few more minutes. she said, "oh mommy, this one just fell on my lap."!!!! cracked me up!

we'll have some pictures of all the fun to add on the site soon. hope you all enjoyed your christmas as well!

all i want for christmas is my two front teeth ...

isabella's third tooth, the first one on top, is coming through. she's being such a trooper. on top of having a cough and cold, her poor gums are swollen and bleeding where the tooth is coming in. i just can't believe her third tooth is already popping through and in just a few days, she'll be 8 months. where has 8 months gone?!

she is rolling everywhere, which has been quite a challenge with the Christmas tree up now. and, it seems like any day now she will be crawling. isabella gets up on her hands and knees and starts rocking. if you look at her, it looks like she is really concentrating on how she will get from here to there. and, even though she is not crawling yet . . . she can get to where she wants to go pretty quickly . . . which often seems to be right towards emma's toy with little bits and pieces! always keeping mommy on her toes!

isabella also started playing peek-a-boo on her own in the past week. i was making dinner one night and isabella was in her bouncy seat. i looked over and panicked at first as her blanket toy was over her face. as i went toward her, she slowly pulled the blanket down and had a big smile on her face. i suddenly realized she was playing peek-a-boo. so cute!!

we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas together as a family of four in just a few days. i'm sure we'll have more to post soon!

merry christmas!

Layering ...

i think emma has mastered the art of layering. she loves dressing herself right now in several layers. and she likes to change her outfits several times a day. it makes me laugh. the other day she had on two t-shirts, two turtlenecks, a sweatshirt and one more shirt on top of that. often, she puts on pants with shorts on top of them. tom says it's the european influence in her! whatever it is, it's very funny, and we get a kick out of seeing what she'll put on next!
you can't fully see this in this picture, but emma had so many layers on here that she could not put her arms down at her sides. it was so funny.

sweet potatoes, bananas, and more ...

ok, we're back again ... life has been a little hectic lately. anyways, isabella is growing and changing so quickly. it's crazy. she is 7 months now!

* rolling all over now
* sitting unsupported
* gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth ... crawling is soon to come!
* eating solid foods
* celebrated her first thanksgiving
* met her aunt anna


isabella has tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, bananas, pears, and squash. we're trying to figure out if she's allergic to bananas like emma. she was not the least bit interested in food when we first started trying to feed her solids ... very different from emma. but, she is now enjoying it, and she makes the funniest faces.