our smiley Emma

I was taking pictures of Emma Saturday morning because Friday night she slept 6 hours!!! I wanted to take a cute picture to remember this special night. I haven't slept that well since before I got pregnant with her.

getting ready to sneeze...

sneezing. something emma does all the time

I just love her big blue eyes.

pure happiness.

again. pure happiness

She is so smiley. One of the fun things about having two girls, I totally remember Carly wearing this outfit a lot. It was one of our favorite 0-3 month outfits. 

She is just so precious. 

happy birthday carly!!!

happy 2nd birthday carly!!!! Holy cow. Our baby is 2!!! 

Carly loves to brush her teeth, help change Emma's diaper, help stir, read books, sing, dance, color.

Favorite Foods: avocado, spaghetti, banana, chocolate, pb&j, eggs, toast.

Favorite Toys: baby dolls, play food, stride to ride puppy, blocks, cars, tent.

Loves: stuffed animal Jack, Emma, blankets, bath, dogs, milk.

Cutest words she says: gross, mess, BABY?, daddy, poop, class, Emma, book.

about to put cinnamon rolls in the oven for her birthday breakfast.

We took Carly and her friend Etta to Chick-fil-a for dinner. They loved the chocolate milk and the chocolate chip cookie Carly got because it was her birthday. They were too busy people watching.

Birthday balloons! I found out that Jeremy can handle these types of balloons. Regular balloons make him cringe when Carly plays with them. I am totally buying the girls these balloons! Carly picked these two out.

I love this shot of her. She does have gum in her mouth :)
Again, I bribe her so I can take pictures of her.

She was being silly and putting her feet up on my legs.

Emma at 6 weeks old and Carly at 2 years old!!

Always kisses for Emma

It's my birthday I can cry if I want to!!!

cry if I want to!!!

smash cake and presents.

She got a new toothbrush! She is obsessed with brushing her teeth.

Blowing out her candle the first time.

What child asks for more after blowing out her candle??!! She blew it out and wanted it lit again so she could blow it out again. We sang to her about five times and let her blow out the candle. I thought she would want the cake??!!

Taking a taste...

daddy wanted to give her a little help

She wasn't so sure.

trying to get the icing out of her nose!! poor girl

A tradition in the Pitchforth's is to take a bite of cake without using your hands. Daddy was showing Carly.

She preferred a fork.

Such a big girl.

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day we got each other chocolate...

This is Jeremy's chocolate that I got him. Yeah, still half of it there. 

This is my chocolate that Jeremy got me. Yes, it is ALL GONE. Did I mention that he bought me two of these boxes? Yeah, totally gone. 

We got Carly her own little box of chocolates too. She ate all three pieces right away! 

I spent all day February 13th making this for Jeremy. I skipped my nap and cleaning and laundry and shopping to do this. It was so much fun to make.

All of the chance cards were dates that we have been on since we started dating. For example, 'bowling at the MC at BYU-Idaho with your roommates, CRAZY! Pay $10.'  If you want to make this for someone, just google Lovopoly. There are so many fun ideas as to how to personalize it. Each property is places we have been together or lived. 

Our Valentine's Day dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Jeremy's Heaven. Televisions everywhere with ESPN. We both got the juicy steak burger with fries. Delicious.

Jeremy also surprised me with pizza! This is huge. He doesn't like pizza. We ordered it from a place here in Cedar Rapids that everyone talks about. Tomasos Pizza. We got the Mombo Combo. It is definitely the most expensive pizza we have had $28!!!!  But it was delicious. 

6 week check up!

Today I had two doctor's appointments. Both went really well. I had a dentist appointment and my six week check up with my obgyn. The doctor said I am healing really well and that I am all clear.

I had two questions going to my appointment today. 1. What exercises are good to start with after having a c section? 2. Is it bad that I am so dependent on this postpartum support band? Doctor said that if I was using a stationary bike before having Emma that I should start with that. Walking is good as well. He also said to start using the band less. Put it on later in the day and take it off earlier in the day.

I told him I didn't wear it one day and I hurt for two full days after that. I am nervous to not wear it. He said not to worry. The band isn't doing much for me anyways.

I feel like I still have a long ways to go of recovering. But I will heal eventually.

Emma is one month!!!

We actually went to church today. Our cute little family of FOUR! Oh my goodness. I don't know who was more excited, me or Carly. Every Sunday I would tell Carly that she was going to church and that we needed to pick out a pretty dress to wear. She would say 'baby?!' and I would sadly have to tell her that Emma couldn't go to church yet. 

This was taken after church. I know, blurry picture. But you get the idea. We had the girls matching and it was perfect. 

Emma and her 1 Month sticker

Carly wants to always 'help' out with Emma. 

Emma in comparison with her giraffe

I flipped the picture so Emma was upright, haha, it flipped the 1 month sticker around. oh well.

I don't think I have sneezed more in my life than I have in the past month. Only because I am healing from a c section! It kills to sneeze. I try and hold it in, yeah, only makes it worse. 

Emma is a pretty good sleeper. She is usually up twice a night. Sometimes she just wants to spend some extra time with me or something because she doesn't want to go back to sleep! Sweet little Emma. She is such a sweet baby. She usually is up at 12 or 1 and up again at 3ish. And the girls wake up at about 6:30-7a.m. Then we take naps at noon. Carly is a huge fan of this nap time. Emma hasn't quite figured out this nap schedule :) Sometimes she is up a little longer, again just wanting some extra quality time with her mommy. 

Nursing is so much better the second time around. Oh my goodness. SUCH a difference. I pump and give her a bottle once a day. I made the mistake and didn't keep giving Carly bottles. So I could never leave her with a sitter for long because I had to nurse her. Emma loves the tommee tippee bottles and Nuk pacifiers. 

Emma is still in newborn clothing and newborn diapers. The clothes are getting a bit too short! Not snug at all, just short. I have found that the Huggies newborn diapers are much bigger than the Pampers newborns. 

Carly is still all about Emma. Which makes the transition to two kids much easier. I still get overwhelmed every now and then. I feel I take care of Carly, and now Emma, and then myself??!! Oh and my sweet husband. The housework is usually not top on my list of things to do before Jer gets home. :( I have been getting laundry done. I cook dinner every now and then and sometimes even do dishes. I have to remind myself, this is the time to be lazy and it totally be okay. I just had a baby! oh and I am still healing from the c section that is! 

We finally bought some pacifier clips for Emma. I love them and we haven't had them 24 hours. It is nice in the middle of the night not to go searching for the silly pacifier and that it's just clipped on her all the time. Why didn't we get these sooner?! 

Emma loves to be held. I will nurse her at night and then she likes to be held about five minutes before she is out and I can put her in her bassinet. If I am lucky she will stay asleep. Sometimes she poops and that is explosive and I get up again to change her or she gets hiccups. I'm not a fan of baby hiccups. They wake her up and keep her awake until they are gone. If I can get her to nurse again then they go away. 

Emma was a big fan of church today. She slept the whole time minus about 20 minutes. I had a bottle ready because I knew I didn't want to have to leave primary to nurse her. I kept her in the car seat. There were a few that came up to see her. When I took her out to feed her a few people came to see her after church. No one else held her though. I am just super nervous because today she is only a month old and she's not quite ready for germs! I had lots of head turns from the kids in primary though when I had her out. :) I forgot how kids are drawn to stare at babies. I love it. 

I feel Emma sleeps best when she's not in her bassinet. She loves to be held and sleep. She loves to be on her belly and sleep on our chest. She loves to sleep in her car seat. Sometimes I just keep her with me in bed because she sleeps better. I know, that's bad, but I need sleep!  

Sometimes I feel like Emma has been part of family forever. Other times I feel like a rookie and trying to figure out how to make her stop crying and make her happy. 

I love the time that Jeremy and I get with Emma after Carly goes to bed. Carly goes to bed at about eight. Emma stays up with Jeremy and I until about 9:30. I love it. I usually stay up a little longer just nursing her. Jeremy is out by this time. But at least we get a little awake time just the three of us. 

Sometimes I like to match the girls. I had been putting them in these outfits a lot. I almost didn't but then I realized they might not always fit in these so why not?! 

Look at this happy happy baby! I love my Emma Jean.

What do I do all day?

At the end of the day, I often think to myself what did I even do today??!  Yesterday we went to Target, just the three of us. I needed to pick up Emma's nosefrida that I had ordered. When we got home it was nap time! Jeremy gets home from work soon after nap time, so it is super nice to just have mornings with the girls.


Well today, we took pictures. I love spending about 15 minutes trying to get some pictures of my beautiful girls.

These were my favorites. :)

We started out taking pictures on a good note! haha. Carly was on her bed crying (she was sent to her room). And Emma was on my bed crying.

Emma and her giraffe. She loves looking out the windows.

This girl has such an intense stare.

I actually did make Emma's dress and Carly's skirt with matching hair bows. :) I made the dress for practice before making Emma's blessing dress and had some leftover fabric to make something for Carly to match.

The only way Emma would not cry is if she had her pacifier. I think these still turned out cute.
Matching sisters :)

I am the luckiest mom. These two just melt my heart.