Smile of the Day

It is so exciting to capture her little smiles. She is such a happy girl after she eats and loves to play. I've started singing silly songs to her a lot and she loves them. Our favorite thing to do is take common songs and change the lyrics for her. A few hits are "For She's a Little Costello" (to For He's a Jolly Good Fellow), "Oh My Emma, Child of Mine" (to Oh My Darlin' Clementine), and "Sipsy Doodle" and "She's a Sipsy Doodle Dandy" (instead of Yankee Doodle).

Last night went pretty good. She's falling asleep a lot easier. I am so happy things are going better than I anticipated.

We are cleaning house this weekend, getting ready for family that's coming in for Thanksgiving. Kev gets done with his clinical early today which is great since he'll be able to help me get some things done. Other than that, life is good. Not too much exciting going on at the Costello household other than being mesmerized (sp?) by miss Emma Liz. Hope everyone is having a blessed day!

Sleep Training Day #2

First off, let me say that this is not how we put Emma to bed, so no need to say prayers for her dumb parents. JK. This is her wrapped in a blankie laying on the couch taking a cat nap while I was sitting next to her. I just thought it was so adorable.

Last night was 50 times better than the first night. She was asleep at 7:30, up at 11 back asleep by 12, up at 3:45, back asleep by 4:30 and then slept until 7:45 this morning. Ahhh, progress is sweet, especially when it's only been 2 nights. I'll keep you posted. Love to all!

Day 1 of "Sleep Training"

I had to post this adorable smile I ca

ptured this morning after Emma ate. It's amazing, considering that the girl didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night! We have started trying to get Emma to sleep in her crib (instead of our arms) and we officially have 1 night under our belt.

We have decided on a bedtime routine starting around 7:30ish to consist of bath, eat, rocking with a story/lullabye, prayer and into bed. It actually started okay last night. We swaddled her and put her into bed around 8:30. We would go in and comfort her every 10 minutes until she fell asleep, which only took a few times. So, she was sound asleep around 9 and I was feeling pretty cocky. "This isn't so bad," I thought to myself. Kevin and I went to bed and slept so soundly. Until midnight. I went upstairs to her room and nursed her, changed her diaper, swaddled her and put her back into bed. I repeated the comfort every 10 minute routine as earlier in the night. This time, though, it took until 6 AM. Actually, it didn't even happen then, but I got her up to eat again, swaddled, etc. She went to sleep pretty easily around 7 and slept until 10 (so did I).

I'm feeling a little sluggish, to say the least, but I'm hopeful. She's actually taking her first nap of the day right now in her swing (Can we say AMEN)? I'll keep everyone posted on how it all goes. Who knows, maybe she'll sleep through the night this time. HA!

Emma Goes to the Doctor

Emma with Trudi and Stella

Emma laying on the exam table after being measured

8 lb 13 oz and 21"

Emma's little bandaids from her shots :(

We took Emma to see Trudi, the pediatric nurse practioner that I work with for a well-baby check and her first shots. Emma did really fantastic. She was very still and quiet while Trudi examined her. She cried when she got her shots, but luckily she was easy to console. She has spent most of the day sleeping and snuggling with me. She's running a low-grade fever, but nothing too serious and we gave her Tylenol, so that's helping.

We are going to start a new sleep routine tonight, on the recommendation of Trudi. Many of you know we've been struggling with being able to get Emma to sleep when she's not in our arms. Basically, Trudi says that this is what she's learned so we have to "teach" her another way. This basically involves letting her cry it out a bit while being there to comfort her and support her with touch and our voices. It's going to be a rough night tonight, but we'll see.

We are really excited about family coming next week for Thanksgiving. ALL of Kevin's family will be here, so we're having a family portrait done on Friday. I can't wait to see it! We hope the rest of you are having a good week and looking forward to Turkey Day!

Happy Halloween!!

We finally have managed to capture a few grins on camera! She's really starting to smile more and more and we are just eating it up. I tell ya, when you're up with a baby at 3 in the morning feeding a baby and she smiles up at you, all the sleepiness goes away and you feel so blessed to be in that moment. She's 6 weeks old now and doing more and more every day. We tried to find a costume that would fit her, but she's so tiny there just aren't any. We found a cute onsie and hat though. They're a little big but she still looked precious. Kevin had to work tonight so his brother and his wife came over for a while and we handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids' costumes. I can't wait until next year when we'll be able to dress Emma up and take her around ('cause that means Mom and Dad get to eat all the candy she's too little for!)

We hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. Love you!

Another week down

I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks. We finally have managed to capture some pictures with her eyes open. This girl loves to sleep! It has been so much fun the past week, though, because she is starting to spend more time awake and interacting. She is beginning to watch her toys and respond to music and noises. We think she's trying really hard to start to smile. She cracks grins in her sleep all the time, which is the most precious thing we've ever seen. She was sitting with Kev last night and every time he would talk to her the side of her mouth would twitch and her eyes would get big; it was so sweet.

We're still not having much luck lying her down to sleep. We have found away to get some relief during the day, though. I've started carrying, or "wearing" her in a sling. She really likes it and it frees up my hands to do other things.

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving. Kev's entire family is coming to Springpatch to meet Emma. It's going to be such a good time!

Hope everyone's week is going well. love you guys!

4 Weeks

I can't believe Emma is already 4 weeks old, the time has really flown by! We are starting to get settled into a bit of a routine. We're still working on being able to lay her down to sleep. There has been some progress made (thanks to a vaccum CD) but we still have a way to go.

I love it that she is staying awake a lot more during the day now. She likes to lay on her little activity mat and listen to her musical toys and look at everything. Unlike most babies I've heard of, she loves tummy time. Mainly because she tries to go to sleep on her tummy. We always put her to sleep on her back but she loves being on her tummy, whether on the floor or on our chest.

She is not due to go and see the doctor until she is 2 months old but I think I'm going to take her by my office this week to see how much weight she's put on. She looks bigger to me but I want to be sure she's putting on weight since she was so tiny at birth.

We went for a walk in the park today. I kept her bundled and covered because it was a little windy but I think she liked getting out of the house and the motion. It felt nice to get a little exercise and some fresh air. If the weather is okay tomorrow, I'll try to take her out again.

I'll try to post more often and get some more pics up. Love you guys!!!

Thank God for Family

The past week has been so awesome. My sister-in-law Jill (see pic above) has been here staying with us and has been a HUGE help. She is married to Kevin's older brother and they are living in Texas while he goes through the Army's PA school. Emma has really started to turn into a little person and not just a sleeping and pooping machine. She has been staying awake alot more during the day and is definately making us aware of things that make her happy and things that make her mad. Her primary antagonizer is being put down. The girl likes to be held all the time. We've been taking turns sleeping while holding her on the couch at night. I figure, though, she isn't going to let me hold her forever so I'll enjoy it now while I can.

One of my other sister-in-laws, Mae, sent Emma some awesome gifts this week. She sent her some large letters spelling her name to hang in the nursery, a beautiful quilt with her name and birthday embroidered on it, and some cute premie outfits. Emma is wearing one of the new outfits in the picutre. It has an adorable elephant on it and says "Walk softly".

My parents, sister and cousin are coming to visit next weekend and meet Emma for the first time. I'm so excited for my dad to hold his new grandbaby! Other than all that, we're just settling in to our new family and enjoying one another. Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and support, we love you!

Emma Live

Emma wanted to take a second and say hi to everyone she hasn't gotten to meet yet. I also thought this would be a good way to feed Mae's recent addiction :) Hope everyone is doing well, and as always there will be more to follow.

This is what happiness looks like...

Ihave finally found a few minutes to sit down and update the blog. As Kevin mentioned in a previous post, I had a last minute c-section due to a bad induction. Everything went perfectly and we were able to come home on Saturday. They are still monitoring my blood pressure because it has continued to rise. My doc started me on a short term dose of medicine today which will hopefully bring it down.
The last few days have went by in a blur. Having Emma home is more wonderful than we had imagined. I find myself just staring at her and falling in love with all her cute little facial expressions and grunts. So far, she has been an easy baby and we're not feeling too sleep deprived yet. Since she was so little, Kevin had to go buy a few premie sized outfits so we would have some clothes that fit her. I must say she looks just darling in the little outfits Kevin has picked out for her.
I can't wait to try and upload a little video we made of her yesterday; it's darling. We'll keep everyone posted and will put up more pictures. Thank you to everyone for all your prayers, support. Emma is lucky to have so many people love her.

Emma has arrived!!!

WE just wanted to let everyone know that Emma was born at 9:08 this morning by c-section. They tried inducing her but it did not really work. But both are doing well and the baby is a massive 5lbs. 14oz. Here are some pics, i;m sure more will follow soon.

Induction tomorrow morning

So they finally decided that enough is enough. Mandy went to her appointment on monday and not suprisingly they decided to keep her. After another day and a half of high blood pressures and headaches, they have decided to induce her. They will begin the pitocin at 0600 tomorrow morning, so hopefully miss emma will make her debut shortly after (8,10,15,20 hours or so....). There is some concern that Mandy may require a C-section because they are not sure if the cervix will be ready, she has a narrow pelvic arch, and the ever present high blood pressure. However, things will go as God (and medicine) has planned, and hopefully things will be well and both Mandy and Emma will stay well. All the tests show that Emma is head down and healthy, so now we just have to help her into the world. We will keep posted as we can and hopefully pictures will follow soon.

House Arrest

This past Wednesday I was placed on bed rest. Or, as I am referring to it, house arrest. I went in for a routine visit on Wed afternoon and my blood pressure was elevated a bit and I had some protein in my urine. My doctor sent me over to labor and delivery to have the baby checked and get some testing done. They then decided to keep me overnight for "observation" which turned into 2 nights. I got to come home this afternoon. I'm going back to the office Monday for some more tests and an exam. I am really really really hoping that I will either go into labor soon or will be induced. I'm full term so Emma should be able to be born safely. Also, I don't want things to get worse and start to feel more sick, which my doctor said will probably happen. And, I don't want to waste several weeks of my maternity leave lying on the couch.

According to my doctor, I can get up to shower and go to the bathroom and that's all. He said I can't do anything in the baby room, put away dishes, fold laundary, etc. Basically, that means poor Kevin is on his own for now. He has been totally awesome. In fact, right now he is at Price Cutter getting me some ice cream and snacks. He made some yummy dinner tonight and then picked up some around the house. It was so hard to just sit here on the couch and watch him do things. He has been totally accomodating and loving and I could not ask for anything more. I'll let everyone know how my visit on Monday goes. Maybe Emma's arrival won't be too far away. And, if it is, I'm open to suggestions for some good books to keep me occupied!

Emma's Nursery

Emma's nursery theme is called Tropical Punch. We thought it was really cute because it wasn't too pink and had lots of fun colors. We still need to hang her curtains and there's nothing on the walls. It will be several months before she ever sleeps in here since her room is upstairs and ours is downstairs. In the meantime, it will just sit and be pretty and we'll come up to visit it and change clothes.

We went to Toys R Us today and bought another carseat base to have put in Kevin's car. We also got some netting that can fit over her playard and the crib, hoping it will keep Jack out of there when she's sleeping. Kevin also got the Dr. Seuss book Hop on Pop which he says is an essential. We then went to Hannah Bananas (my new favorite place) and had some gourmet ice cream. Yum!

I feel like I should be productive and get some housework done but what I really want is a nap. I've been really sleepy lately. I guess I should take advantage of sleep while I can. I'm feeling good for the most part but it's become pretty uncomfortable to walk/stand. There's so much pressure on my bladder and pelvis, it kinda hurts. Oh well, not much longer.

I am praying that God will let me work up until I deliver. I really need to be at my job as much as I can for as long as I can. I'm trying to get someone up to speed on all my duties so that they can cover me while I'm gone. This past week I've really started to feel crummy, though, and I'm hoping this doesn't mean I'll have to go on leave early. That's all for now. I'm going to try to get some more pics up of some of our favorite things people have gotten us for Emma as well as a really cute Halloween outfit we found for her. Hope all is well with everyone, lots of love!

Happy Labor Day

Today is the first day Kevin and I have both had the entire day off together in a long time. So, we've taken advantage of the occassion by not getting out of bed and having breakfast until 11. It's now 4pm and I haven't changed out of my pajamas. Ah, the good life. We won't have too many more of these type of days with Emma coming so soon.

Things have been going really well. We decided to go with the nanny I had wrote about last week, Kim. It is such a huge burden lifted off our shoulders knowing that we have good childcare lined up for when I return to work. I'm taking the full 12 weeks off for maternity leave and have lots planned since it will fall during the holidays. I think all of our family is going to come to Springfield for Thanksgiving. This is good because we probably won't feel up to traveling away from home yet and everyone from out of town can meet Emma. For Christmas, the plan is to fly to Charlotte and visit Kev's sister and husband. I've had people tell me that flying with a baby isn't too big a deal as long as you're prepared. Then, I'll return back to work the first week of January.

We've made some finishing touches to the nursery (although she won't be using it for several months.) I still need to get the carseat installed and get our bag packed, but that will come soon.

On a sadder note, the house diagonal across the street from us caught on fire this afternoon. We're not sure of any of the details yet, but it appears that noone was hurt. The house looks pretty destroyed. I think every fire engine in Springfield showed up to help battle the blaze. The family living there hasn't been moved in for very long. We haven't got to meet them but Kevin is pretty sure they have children. Hopefully we'll be able to connect with them after things settle down and see what we can help them with.

That's all for now. I think I'm going to put some real clothes on and maybe run to the store for some veggies. Kevin is slow-cooking a pork-loin; yumm!