First Family Pet

When we were in Utah this past weekend, we took Emerson to the aquarium and he absolutely LOVED looking at the fish. He would get so excited and start flailing. He couldn't keep his eyes off of them. We've also discovered recently that Finding Nemo is his favorite movie. Whenever we watch other movies, he'll look at the tv but he doesn't care all that much for them but when we turned on Finding Nemo for the first time, he was glued to the tv. It's so fun to see all the things he's becoming interested in and learning all of these fun new things about him. Jordan has been wanting to get fish pretty much since the day we got married and I kept telling him no because we didn't have the room for it and I didn't want to deal with cleaning the tank. Well, yesterday we spent some time at Walmart and after going back and forth for about a half an hour, we decided to go ahead and get some fish. Jordan was super excited and it is fun to have our first little pet together. And Emerson loves fish so that was another bonus :) Here's to the adventure of first time pet owners as a married couple!

                       

President's Day Weekend Getaway to Utah

This last weekend, Jordan, Emerson, and I were able to go to Utah for the 3 day weekend.  We decided to go to Utah so that we could get some furniture at Ikea so we thought why not make a whole weekend out of it?  We had lots of fun and were able to take Emerson out to do things that he had never done before.  On Friday night, we first got to Brittney's house and then just hung out for the night.  On Saturday, Jordan and I were able to go to Ikea to get our furniture.  Brittney babysat Emerson which was nice so we didn't have to lug him all over the store all day.  Montana also drove down for the day so that we could throw all the furniture in his truck.  It was really nice of him to come down and then drive back up to Rexburg the same day.  It was a pretty long day full of furniture shopping but we were able to get everything we needed and it was fun going to Ikea.  I had actually never been there before so it was a whole new shopping experience for me haha.

On Sunday, we went to church with Brittney and Chad and then later on went to Temple Square.  Emerson LOVED looking up at the temple.  As soon as we got to the grounds, he could not stop staring and looking up.  I loved seeing him like that!  He was very into all of the things that were around him.  We went into the visitors center and he was very interested in the pictures and all of the things that were placed around the visitors center.

He loved the visitors center

 

He was so high up there, he didn't know what to do with himself haha

On Monday, we were able to have a family day and celebrate Jordan's birthday a couple days early since he has to work on his birthday.  We first went over to the aquarium which was really fun.  It would've been a bit more enjoyable had it not been SO crowded but it was still fun and Emerson LOVED the fish.  When we went over to look at the sharks, he got super excited and started flailing and talking.  It was awesome!  He didn't care much for any of the other animals but whenever he looked at the fish, he would get super excited and absolutely loved it!

He was absolutely mesmerized by the sharks

After the aquarium, we headed down to Provo so Jordan could go to his favorite pizza place, Pier 49, for his birthday lunch.  Peter met up with us there and it was fun seeing him since we haven't seen him in a while.  After lunch, we went and visited with Jordan's aunt for a little bit and then we went to Krispy Kreme to take some donuts home.  We then went to Chipotle so I could have a burrito for when we got back to Rexburg haha I love Chipotle!  We finally got back to Brittney's house around 6:00 and hurried up and got all packed up and then headed out around 7:15ish.  Luckily the drive went by pretty fast so the drive home wasn't too terrible but boy were we tired and worn out.  Thank goodness Emerson slept the entire drive home so we didn't have to deal with a cranky and crying baby haha.  It was a really fun weekend and we got a lot done but I am always super happy and excited to get home and sleep in my own bed and just get back into my daily routine :)

5 Months Old

Today Emerson is 5 months old!  Wow!  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by.  It feels like just yesterday I was pregnant with him and on my way to the hospital to meet him for the first time.  I was looking back at some old pictures of him and he has already changed so much in these last 5 months.  I am so glad that I take lots of pictures of him because when I see him everyday, I don't see all those little changes but when I look back at pictures, it amazes me how different he is.  He used to be so tiny.  He had little chicken legs but he definitely doesn't anymore haha he's a little chunk now which is fantastic!  A lot has happened this last month.  He has been growing and has reached some milestones which Jordan and I are pretty excited about.
As of this morning (according to our scale at home) Emerson is 16 pounds.  He was about 14.8 pounds at his last doctors appointment so he's gained about a pound (if our home scale is correct).  I feel like he looks so tall every time I stand him up or he lays flat on the ground so we'll see how tall he really is at his next appointment :)
During this last month, we started feeding Emerson some rice cereal.  The first time we gave it to him, he was definitely not a fan.  He had no idea what to do with it and would kind of just spit it back out again.  In the beginning we were mixing it with a little bit of formula so that he would recognize the taste a bit but he still wasn't a huge fan and had the funniest look on his face when we would feed it to him.  After a couple weeks, he started getting better at it and even ate a couple full bowls so we tried giving him some baby food like apples and bananas.  He doesn't like those very much.  I think it's just too sweet for him because when he swallows, he gets this really sour look on his face as if he were swallowing lemon juice.  We mixed a little bit of applesauce in with his rice cereal and that helped a little bit but he still doesn't like the fruit that much so we'll have to keep working with him on that.  Whenever we're feeding him, he always tries to grab the spoon.  He really likes utensils.  Whenever me and Jordan are eating, he will study us and the utensils very closely so when we feed him, he grabs the spoon and tries to feed himself.  He ends up gagging himself most of the time because he sticks the spoon so far back in his mouth so we have to watch him pretty closely when he grabs that spoon.

Lately Emerson has been very attached to his toys and is actually able to really play with them now.  His favorite toy right now is this little elephant that he always sleeps with during nap time and always brings with him whenever we go out.  He loves sticking the thing in his mouth so it's gotten kind of gross but that's ok, I love that he has a favorite toy.  I'm pretty sure his favorite animal is an elephant also because he has a couple elephant toys and whenever I put toys in front of him, he goes for the elephant toys.  He also loves his little rattle ball.  He will grab it and then hit it against the floor or his leg.  He goes crazy when the rattle makes a noise.  He loves it!  I love that he actually plays with his toys now because it makes it easier for him to entertain himself and it gives me time to do stuff as well.  It also makes it fun for me and Jordan to buy him new toys.  When we buy new toys, we will show them to him at the store before we buy them and he will get super excited for certain ones and start kicking and flailing and reaching for the toy.

He loves that ball

He loves putting every toy into his mouth that he can

Another exciting milestone that we have finally reached this last month was rolling over!  He has been able to roll from his tummy to his back for months now but he kept struggling with rolling from his back to his tummy.  He would get SO CLOSE and then would just give up because he couldn't figure out how to get his body over his arm but as of just a few days ago, he finally figured it out!  I was so excited when he did it but of course he did it when I wasn't looking.  Those first few times he would only do it when no one was looking so we would catch him trying and then the next time we would look over, he'd be on his tummy.  I was so mad that I missed the whole thing but he does it all the time now so I can actually watch him.  I'm so happy he can roll over but now he's more mobile so we have had to move some things around so he can't grab them and we definitely can't leave him on the couch or the bed unless someone is sitting next to him because he can just roll off now.  For some reason, he can't seem to fully figure out how to get back to his back now so when he rolls over, he'll get really frustrated because he wants to be on his back so I'll have to go over and give him a little push but then he'll just roll right back over again and start fussing to get over to his back again.  It's a little frustrating for me but hopefully he'll get it figured out soon.  We also figured out that he LOVES the wipes package.  He really likes the sound that it makes so those first few times he tried rolling over, we would put the wipes in his vicinity and he would roll over just so he could grab the package and hear the noise.  I think he might even like the wipes more than he likes his own toys haha silly boy.

"I did it mom!"

Can't keep the computer or cords nearby anymore

He is still sleeping through the night just great!  We've been putting him to bed a bit earlier than normal now because he's starting get tired earlier.  We used to put him to bed around 10 or 10:30 but he's been getting tired closer to 9:00 now so we'll put him to bed usually around 9 or 9:30.  We've also established a pretty good nighttime routine for him as well so I think that's why he's getting tired earlier because he knows it's almost bedtime.  We'll usually try feeding him some rice cereal around 7ish and let him play for a bit and then we'll give him his bath close to 8:00.  He still LOVES the bath and splashes like crazy!  After his bath, he'll sometimes take a quick cat nap before bed but usually he wants to stay up and play and then we'll feed him a bottle and put him down.  He'll usually fall asleep after about 10 minutes so bedtime isn't too difficult for him.  He likes to sleep with his teething ring so that he has something to suck on as he falls asleep and then we'll play some Angels and Airwaves for him as he falls asleep.  He loves AVA (just like his mommy and daddy haha).  He'll then wake up around 6:30 or 7:30 and sometimes even 8:30 if we're lucky and then eat and take another couple hour nap and then he's pretty much up for the day.  He takes quick little naps here and there but stays awake pretty much all day.

Emerson loves playing with his daddy.  He used to be a mommy's boy but I think he's definitely turned more into a daddy's boy.  He wants me usually when it's bedtime because he's used to me feeding him and putting him to bed so I'll usually do that but he definitely likes to play a lot more with Jordan.  When I try to play with him, he kind of just sits there and does his own thing but as soon as Jordan walks in the door, he get super excited and starts flailing and laughing and talking.  He loves it when Jordan throws him up in the air.  He cracks up!  He's recently started enjoying playing peek-a-boo with his daddy as well.  It's so cute when he gets that huge smile on his face and starts laughing.  I love it!

Playing peek-a-boo with daddy

Also, a quick disclaimer for those who saw that we thought Emerson was teething...we were wrong haha.  He had a major increase in drool and poop so we thought that maybe he was teething because we could see two little nubs on his bottom gum and Jordan thought he felt one tooth breaking skin but unfortunately we were wrong.  No teeth yet.  Just lots of drool but the poop has slowed down and he's gone back to his normal amount haha.  He could be starting soon though!

No teeth yet.  Just lots of poop and drool haha.

So far Emerson has been doing great!  He's really growing and learning so much.  I have loved this last month so much because he has been figuring so many things out and learning so many new things.  I love that he'll talk back to me and Jordan and smile and play with us.  This last month has been my favorite because he's so attentive and interactive now.  I'm super excited to see what new things he'll learn this next month.  Hopefully he'll start crawling soon :) He's very determined and loves to try and move and even try to sit up so hopefully next month I'll have a few new milestones to report on :)

He loves sucking on his fingers

We have fun hanging out while daddy works

I just loved this little outfit I found at Kohl's.  They had the cutest baby clothes!

Grandma Fuhriman made Emerson a little hat so we thought we'd take him out in the snow and try it out haha.

He clearly didn't care that much haha

Just a quick little then and now picture.  The first picture is from when he was just two days old!  He is still definitely Emerson but he has changed :)