Sunday, March 30, 2008

Psychoanalysis

With a wealth of psychology education under my belt (two whole courses), I consulted with Sarah, who has an entire psychology major, about Emily's development. After much study and discussion we have determined that she is in Freud's oral stage of development. Exhibit A: Emily trying to cram an entire elephant into her mouth.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from all of us! Yes, I know we're a week late, but Easter really lasts forty days anyway. Besides, everyone loves a good baby in an Easter dress picture.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Rollover Beethoven

Breaking baby news: Emily just rolled over!  Sarah gave her some tummy time, and Emily decided to hold her head up high (also new), and after a couple minutes of that, she just plumb rolled over.  Never before have I been so excited about someone rolling onto their backside.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Bath Time Redux

One of the challenges of keeping Emily on her sleep schedule is getting through late evenings, when she is usually at her crankiest. Consequently, we employ any and all tricks available to keep her awake and entertained until that magical bedtime, when she hopefully sleeps through the night (knock on wood). One of these tricks is a bath, which it turns out she needs from time to time anyway. Ever since we adjusted her bath water temperatures from the frigid paranoid-about-burns level to pleasantly warm, Emily has tolerated and even enjoyed her baths at times. She at least seems interested in the funny feeling of the water, and will probably enjoy baths even more when she learns how to play with the water.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Emily's Baptism

We had the pleasure this Sunday of seeing Emily welcomed into God's family as she was baptized at our church. Although she was a little cranky going up to the front of the church, she was very calm as she received the water on her head. It was also great to see her introduced to the congregation and welcomed by everyone.  She certainly did her best to look cute, while wearing the dress in which Sarah was baptized and (occasionally) my baptism blanket.


"I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you." (Genesis 17:7)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Irish Jig 2008

This morning I ran the Irish Jig 5k for the second time. It was a good race, and Emily brought two Sarahs along to drink coffee and cheer me on, which added to the fun. While Emily fell asleep in her baby bjorn, I mostly ran a relaxed race, except for the last mile when I tried to pick up the pace. I especially noticed that stretching beforehand helped a lot in staying loose. Go figure. I finished in 24:24, which I'm happy with considering I did only a few training runs. I also wasn't much slower than my time from two years ago of 23:50. At this rate of slowing down a little every two years, I'll be running a 5k in 39:25 when I'm 80. Not too bad for an old guy. I smell a first in my age group ribbon.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Emily Learns to Bat Her Toys

After weeks of staring and intense concentration, Emily has learned that she can use her hand to bat at and hold her toys, which fascinates her. Previously the best she did was accidentally hit the toys as she excitedly flailed. Now she does so intentionally, and seems to prefer her right hand. In fact, she hasn't even realized yet that she can also use her left hand to bat the toys.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1170512]

Happy Little Baby

Emily has been a model baby recently. Her biggest accomplishment has been sleeping through the night, with a current streak of more than ten days without waking up in the middle of the night! Of course Sarah and I are thrilled about this, and Emily seems to like it too. She sticks to her schedule quite well, and is happy the majority of the time she's awake. When she does cry, it's usually for predictable reasons like she's been awake too long and needs a nap, she's hungry, or needs her diaper changed. Thanks to this newfound happiness, she has enjoyed showing off her smile and funny faces much more often:



Sunday, March 2, 2008

Keeping Busy

It has been two and a half weeks since our last post, a sure sign that we have been busy. While Sarah and I have been going to class and clinical, resuming work, getting a job (woohoo!), and of course taking care of the little peanut, Emily has not remained idle. Here are just a few of the things that have been keeping her busy recently:

Helping Momma in the kitchen:


Making funny faces:


Discovering (to her apparent surprise) that she has a fist:


And most exciting of all, smiling:


Emily is growing and changing fast, so stay tuned for more updates.