Emma's First Bath

Emma had her first real bath a week or so ago, just after she lost her little umbilical cord stump.  Here she is in the tub getting ready to be washed.  She wasn't that happy about any of this.

All the kids wanted to come in and see her getting her bath.  Even John brought in a little stool to climb up and see her.  Here is Grant checking her out.

 Emma was a lot less happy about the whole bath thing once we started pouring water on her.

 Make it stop!!

Poor Emma.

Eventually we got her all clean.  It actually didn't take long since she isn't very big and Scott and I know what we are doing now when it comes to bathing a newborn.  We've had lots of practice.  :)

 All bundled up in the towel.  She still didn't feel happy.

 Once we got her into nice dry clothes she felt better again.

Oh, it's good to be clean!

This bath was over a week ago, but Emma is doing well.  According to the bath scale at home she is almost up to 8 pounds now.  Way to go Emma!  She has stopped sleeping quite so much during the day but wants to eat all the time.  I feed her a lot and I think she is growing pretty well.  I feel hungry and drained all the time - I'm blaming the semi-constant nursing for that.  But having four other kids might have something to do with it too.  At least the part about being tired.  When she's not eating she wants to be held, so getting things done has gotten a lot more complicated.  She may be riding in the baby carrier a lot.  And she's doing a little better at night - slightly longer periods of sleep.  So I think we are at least moving in the right direction.  We shall see!

And here is a bonus photo of John getting bathed at the same age.  He was 9 pounds 6 ozs when he was born (vs. Emma's 5lbs, 8 ozs).  In the same tub he looks like a giant compared to Emma.  Emma has some chunking up to do.

Christmas Fun

I haven't been doing a good job of taking pictures lately.  We've done some fun things, but I don't have a lot of pictures of it all.  It's been busy around our house.  We decorated our Christmas tree.  Here is Matthew putting the star on...with some help from Scott.

 

A blurry picture of our tree without the star.

 We went to see some Christmas lights at a nearby place

 Tons of lights...very pretty

A nativity scene at the end.  Those dark blurs in front are some of the kids.

We made and decorated gingerbread houses.  Actually my mom made the house pieces and frosting and the kids helped assemble them and did most of the decorating on their own.  I made these house pieces last year on my own and its no small feat.  Glad I had a pro here to help this year.  Maybe next year Emma won't need so much holding...or maybe she will.  Last year John wanted to be held during our gingerbread house making time.  So things are busy here.  I've been in sort of new baby hermit mode lately...but my mom will be leaving this week and I have to go back to my usual responsibilities.  We'll see how it goes.  :)  Happy December!!

O Christmas Tree

We went and got a Christmas tree this weekend.  It was a warm day, relatively speaking.  So we headed out to our favorite local tree farm and hunted for our perfect tree.  Locally they grow white pine and scotch pine trees.  Here are Scott and John searching among the pines.

 Grant really liked this little one

 He had fun running around in the trees

 Everyone had fun trying to find that perfect tree

What a handsome guy!!  Definitely my favorite tree finder...and so handy with a saw!!  Scott found a good tree and we were all ready to cut it down until he found a dead bird in it.  Soooo, we moved on and picked a different tree.

 Anna and Grant kept finding little trees

And finally we found a winner - a beautiful tree without any dead animals in it.  Success!!
Emma was in the purple baby carrier...fast asleep.

 Grant took the first turn at sawing our tree down

I love Grant's new flaming orange coat.  It makes him easier to spot.

 Matthew has a go at the tree

 And Anna took a turn

 John, on the other hand, laid down in the soft pine needles.

It was his nap time and he was tired.

 Here's Grant waiting for our tree to be cut down

Scott finished off the job after everyone had a turn

 Hooray!!

Everyone was happy with our tree

While we waited for the tree farm wagon to come get us and our tree, the big kids went to take a look at a little pond nearby.  John stayed behind.  He was too tired for pond adventures.

And he laid down by a tree to rest...and smell the pine needles.  My little Ferdinand.

Christmas tree euphoria!!

Thanksgiving

November has been a whirlwind of emotions here at our house.  And before we knew it, it was time for Thanksgiving.  I kind of assumed Thanksgiving would be a wash this year 'cause Emma was due on the 26th.  But since she came 2 1/2 weeks early, we were already pretty settled in by the time Thanksgiving actually came.  My dad came out to visit from Rhode Island.  Here he is with baby Emma.

Since the new baby is here I thought I would try to get John's baby quilt assembled.  John is over 2 years old now.  But hopefully he will still enjoy it.  I decided to make a maze quilt for him and here it is laid out before getting sewn together.  Grant saw it and said he wanted one like it, so maybe John will let him play with it once in a while.  Most blankets in this house are generally viewed as community property anyway.

See Matthew's baby quilt HERE

Anna's baby quilt HERE

Grant's baby quilt HERE

I've noticed I only finish a quilt for a child when the next child is born.  That's not a good pattern.

For Thanksgiving Anna was supposed to bring in to school an item or picture of something that she was thankful for.  Instead of a picture of the family or anything like that she picked her favorite husky dog stuffed animal and her blue blanket.  Not even the quilt I made for her.  Just a generic blue blanket she has had for a while.  It's her linus blanket.  :)

And here is Emma.  She is starting to be more alert during the day.  She still sleeps a lot but has more wakeful periods now as well.  She is pretty easy going.  She does wake up a lot at night to eat and wants to be held during the day.  And she is still so little!!  I think she is about up to 6 lbs.

We had our first snow this week.  There was enough to build a snowman.  Grandpa Keeler helped Matthew and Grant build a snowman.  I think Anna helped too.

And turkey time!!  Scott and I have Thanksgiving down to a science.  The food doesn't always turn out perfectly, but we have a schedule of what to do when so it isn't too stressful and everything works out pretty well.  Here we are getting ready to put our bird in the oven.

Trying something different this year - maple cranberry Brussels sprouts.  This recipe didn't work out that well, but I still enjoyed the Brussels sprouts.

 Pies this year are pumpkin and cherry

Cherry was the most popular

 Getting ready to eat!!

It was a great Thanksgiving and fun to have my parents there.

Emma in the baby carrier.  She likes to be held and its hard to get things done, even with my mom here.  I'm worried about when my mom is gone and I'll have five kids on my own to take care of.  So Emma in the baby carrier is a good solution.  She is happy to be in there for right now.  It's a happy snuggly place.

Little Emma in the carrier.  She is plumping up ever so slightly.  Her face and her legs look a little plumpier than before. But she is still so tiny!!  She can't fill out her newborn sized clothes yet.  Her legs and arms still disappear inside.  But she's eating good and hopefully will keep growing bigger.  We're thankful she's here!!

Meeting Emma

Here are a few pictures from our first few days home with Emma.  Everyone was so excited to meet her.  John and Grant were the first to meet her since Matthew and Anna were at school when we got home.  John and Grant were a little shy at first.  They were curious about her but a little slow to approach her.  It was cute.  John learned to say "Emma" right away and that was sweet.  Grant eventually wanted to hold her, deemed her "cute" and then went off to play with toys.  John was more interested and wanted to watch her more.

When Matthew and Anna got home from school they were so excited!  Here they are checking her out for the first time.  They all commented on her tiny hands and feet.

 Matthew, John and Anna talking to Emma (Grant was off playing with toys).

Anna with her new little sister!  Anna is the most excited for Emma to be here and wants to hold her a lot.  She will sit and hold her for a long time while Emma just sleeps.

 Matthew holding Emma.

 The big kids spent a lot of time with her (notice Grant in the background with Grandma Keeler)

 Emma with one of her front door hearts

Anna took this picture to school to show all her friends and teachers a picture of her new sister.