Catching Up

Clearly this weekly update thing is not working for me.  I get so far behind that I can't remember what happened during the week I'm supposed to be blogging about.  So, I'm just going to try to remember everything from my last post until now.  

Here is a recap of a few things that have been going on lately.

Etta Mae's 4 month sleep regression is in full swing.  I was so spoiled when she was sleeping through the night, but I knew there would probably come a time when that stopped.  Her sleep now is pretty unpredictable.  Luckily, she usually only wakes up once in the middle of the night. We bought "Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit" to help transition her out of the swaddle.  It has helped to make some naps longer, but night sleep is pretty much the same.  She does like that she can suck on her hands at night!  But, it looks pretty silly.

She has learned to suck her thumb, and does it often.  She hasn't figure out how to make a fist yet, though, so sometimes she pokes herself in the eye!

Samson is her new best friend!  She watches every move he makes and loves it when he licks her hands.

I was really not looking forward to Etta Mae's 4 month shots, but she did soooo much better than last time.  She only cried for a second (she was super grumpy the next few days, though).  At her appointment, the doctor said she looked perfect.  She was 15 pounds and 24.5 inches.

The day after her shots was Thanksgiving, so we headed to visit my dad and then my mom.  The shots made Etta Mae pretty grumpy all day, so we really didn't get any good pics of her Thanksgiving outfit.  This one was taken at the end of the day, and since I woke up at 4:30 that morning, I was looking a little ragged by the afternoon.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we put up our tree!  I usually have a purple, teal, and silver theme, but decided to go with a more traditional decor this year.

Luckily, we got the tree up before all of these goodies arrived from Uncle Tyler!  Can someone say spoiled?

Yesterday, we also hit another milestone.  Etta Mae rolled over for the first time!  I was convinced that I would miss it and run to grab something then find her flipped over.  Luckily, I caught it on video. I feel so blessed to be able to be with her every day so that I can see all of the fun things she learns.

Here are a few pics of her just looking cute :)

Can you tell that I love leg warmers?!?!

And of course, she and Monroe have been doing lots of fun things too!

Coordinating Outfits

Taking a "bubble bath"

Competing for toys

Rolling into each other

Chatting about boys

18 Weeks

18 Weeks - November 12, 2012

Tuesday, November 6th was my dad's birthday, and he was able to come visit on Wednesday.  He and Etta Mae had so much fun!

She also found her feet!  Her new favorite thing is to grab them.  All.The.Time.  It's pretty adorable!

My happy, happy baby!

Etta Mae's hair is starting to fill in some, and it is pretty funny.  She has some super long hairs and lots of short ones.  And it's so fluffy!  I think it's going to be blonde!

Hanging out with Monroe

We had Etta Mae's 3 month pictures taken awhile back and we got them back!  They are so cute!  A big thanks to Tonya Reeves Photography!  Here are a few of my favorites.

17 Weeks

Baby Planking? Nope, this is what happens when you sit
Etta Mae up in the corner of the chair
17 Weeks - November 5, 2012

It's amazing to see how much Etta Mae has "grown up".  She's so happy and content almost all the time.  Especially in the morning - no idea where she got that. It seems like she is changing every day.  Always making new sounds and doing and becoming aware of new things.  She is definitely going through a phase where she is very distracted by everything around her while she eats which is not easy on me!  She also figured out that she can jump in the jumperoo and thinks it is the best thing ever!  She is still a great sleeper but has started to wake up some at night, usually around 4 am.  That is definitely no fun!  The time change hasn't helped, but hopefully that will correct itself soon.

Hanging out in the leg warmers mommy made

Happy Halloween!

New toy!

This week was Etta Mae's first Halloween.  We didn't do anything except put a sign on the door asking that no one ring the doorbell since bedtime was around 6:30.  I'm sure she'll enjoy it much more next year.

On Friday, we had so much fun!  My Aunt Margaret, cousin Melissa, and second cousins Sophie and Maya came to visit for the day.  This was the first time we had seen them since Etta Mae was a few weeks old, so we were so happy to visit!

Saturday, we met Rea and Monroe at Terra Tots and then went to lunch before cheering the Hogs to victory!

Sunday, Grammy and Dave came to visit.  We had lots of fun minus spending an hour waiting for our take out from Mama Deans!

Halloween Eve spirit!

Chilling Outside

Halloween Cuties

16 Weeks

16 Weeks - October 29, 2012

Having fun this week!

Good times with Monroe

The best part - baby giggles!!!

15 Weeks Old

Yes, this post is late AGAIN.  Better late than never!  I apparently didn't take any pictures on the 22nd when Etta Mae turned 15 weeks old, but I did take this video of her on the monitor trying to get out of her bed during nap time!

This was also the first week that Etta Mae got to see all of her grandparents in the same week!  Incidentally, I didn't get a picture of her with any of them!  Figures...

Tuesday, we went out to eat at Catfish Hole with Jason's dad, Buddy, and Step-mom, Connie.  Etta Mae was great until the very end.  She had fun watching us from her carseat.

Wednesday, My dad and my uncle Larry came to visit for the day.  Etta Mae had so much fun with them and giggling at my dad! Thursday, Jason's mom, Mary Lou, came to town and spent the afternoon helping me with Etta Mae and Monroe and then had dinner with us.  Then, on Friday, we met my mom, Buddy and Connie for the craft shows and lunch.  Etta Mae was awesome!  She spent a lot of the time sleeping in the sling and getting lots of compliments about how cute she is.  It wore her out!

Friday night we decided it was time to start some sleep training.  In anticipation, we put her Rock N Play sleeper in her room Wednesday night to see how she slept.  It went great!  So Thursday night we put her in her crib for the first time, and she slept like normal - yay!  I had been getting increasingly frustrated at the effort it was taking to get Etta Mae to sleep, especially at nap time.  Spending 20 minutes holding her to get her to sleep was wrecking havoc on my back and was sooo time consuming.  Not to mention that the naps were only 30 minutes long.  We decided to start with nights and to go with a very gentle method called Pick Up Put Down.  It basically consists of getting baby drowsy then putting her in the crib.  If she cries, you pick her up until she settles then put her back down.  Repeat until she's asleep.  The first night we apparently got her a little too drowsy, because she fell asleep the first time we put her down!  I was all geared up to spend hours on this and it took 5 minutes!  The next night took a little longer and involved one pick up, but was overall very good.  I decided Sunday to try it out for some naps, too.  Since she was doing so well, I got her less drowsy and extended the time before picking her back up.  It is still going great.  I wish I had known it would be this easy so I could have done it long ago.  Although there is still a little crying, especially at naptime.  It is actually less than it was when we were holding her to get her to sleep!  Win win!

As always, Etta Mae and Monroe have been having tons of fun!  They are learning to share :)

Sharing toys

Sharing fingers - eww!

Week 14

Etta Mae is learning so many things!  She has recently started giggling (so sweet) and reaching for toys!  

On Wednesday, Jason took Etta Mae to Bella Vista to visit with his dad and step-mom.  It was the first time I had been home alone since she was born except for one time that I came home to unload groceries and take a shower while Rea watched her.  When they left, I thought I might have a panic attack being away from her.  Then about 20 minutes later, I realized how nice it was to spend some time on myself in my own home.  Next time I need some "me" time, I may just have to send Jason and Etta Mae out for some daddy-daughter bonding time.

Daddy always falls asleep too when he's putting her down for a nap

I had also been thinking that I needed to get some pictures done since Etta Mae is 3 months old, and emailed Tonya Reeves with Tonya Reeves Photography.  She did the photography for my great friend Jessica's wedding and it was awesome.  I've been stalking her Facebook since then, and really wanted her to get some pics of Etta Mae.  I emailed her on Thursday and she got right back to me to let me know that she had an opening pop up on Saturday!  We had such a good time, and Etta Mae was so cute.  Here are a few preview shots she put up. I'm so excited to see the rest!

And here's a look at what Etta Mae and Monroe have been up to!

3 Months Old