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 :)

4 Months Old

I can't believe Emerson is already 4 months old today!  He's growing up so fast and these months have just been flying by.  He's getting so big and learning so much and has changed like crazy!  Emerson is getting so close to sitting up on his own.  He is very determined to do that on his own and tries so hard.  He's now at the point where he can just hold onto mine or Jordan's fingers and keep himself up on his own.  He's also trying to stand now.  When we used to hold him up, he would just stand on his tip toes or curl his feet but when we were at home for Christmas, he started to stand flat footed!  His legs are so strong and he absolutely loves standing.  Whenever we stand him up, he gets a big smile on his face.  He loves being up and seeing everything around him rather than just staring up at the ceiling all day.

Emerson is also now taking all of his naps in his crib.  He used to only take naps in his swing but ever since we went home for Christmas and didn't have the swing, he's started taking naps just when he's in his bed.  I think the main reason as to why he doesn't sleep in his swing really anymore is because he's out in the living room with Jordan and I and gets too distracted by everything or just wants our attention.  When he's in his bed, he knows that Jordan and I aren't around so it's easier for him to fall asleep.  He's still sleeping through the night as well.  He's still on a pretty set schedule.  Goes to bed at 10:00 every night and usually wakes up around 8:00.  He usually sleeps about 9 hours but sometimes we get 12 hours out of him!  He's such a good sleeper.  It's really nice that he goes to bed at a set time every night because then I'm able to get some time to myself to just relax and wind down for the night.

Emerson is still eating about 6 oz. at every feeding and eats about every 2-3 hours.  He's chunking up a lot.  Jordan and I weighed him today and he's now 15 pounds!  Almost 10 pounds more than his birth weight!  He's got the funniest little beer belly going on and a great double chin.  Love his little chunks and rolls.  So cute :)

He is turning into quite the little talker as well.  He makes a lot of little coos and squeals.  He just started picking up on squeaking these last couple days and is constantly squeaking now.  It's cute but sometimes it does drive me nuts but it's ok because he's learning and I love that!  He's becoming a lot more attentive to the things around him and is even starting to respond a little bit when me and Jordan call him by his name.  Not sure if he recognizes that that's his name or if he just turns his head toward us because he hears us talking.  Either way, he's great at finding where Jordan and I are.

Emerson is starting to really love his toys now which is great because he can start to entertain himself a little bit more.  His favorite toy right now is this little toy elephant that he got from my baby shower.  He absolutely loves the thing!  He loves his play gym also.  He loves pulling on the rings and ripping them down and putting them in his mouth.  For Christmas he got a lot of toys and books and was pretty interested in all of them.  I'm excited for him to be able to sit up on his own so that he can actually play with his toys he got for Christmas.  He's at that point now where he wants to play but he doesn't quite know how to yet so he gets bored but hopefully he'll have it figured out soon.

He is also at the point now where he wants to put EVERYTHING in his mouth.  As soon as we hand him a toy, he puts it right in his mouth.  His hands are always in his mouth and creates the biggest amount of drool haha.  I have to keep a bib on him a lot these days because of all the drool.

He still loves the bath and is starting to love it even more now that he has figured out how to splash.  We've had to start filling the tub a little bit more now because he's getting so big and with the increase in water in the bath, there's an increase in water outside the bath because of all the splashing he does.  I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what he's doing because he gets pretty excited about it and starts smiling and laughing.

Emerson is still in 0-3 month clothes but the 0-3 month pajamas are starting to get a little bit small on him while the onesies still fit him just fine.  He moved up from 1 month diapers to 2 months diapers just yesterday!  He's getting so big and growing so much!

All in all, Emerson is doing great and has learned so much in the last month.  I'm excited to see what this next month has in store because he is getting so close to doing so many things like rolling over and sitting up.  Hopefully by next month I'll have a lot more to share :)

Loves being able to sit up on his own

Just waking up

Little finger muncher

First big road trip

Loves hanging out with mom

Christmas 2014

This year we were able to spend Christmas at my house in Seattle which was a little bittersweet for me since my parents will be moving to Newman Lake the first week in January so it was my last Christmas in Seattle.  Luckily I was able to see a bunch of my friends one last time and got to enjoy the week that we were able to spend there.  This was Emerson's first big road trip and first Christmas so we were able to experience a lot of new things with him.  We decided to leave Rexburg at midnight on the 19th so that Emerson would just sleep the whole way there which we got lucky with.  We decided to stop of at Carrie and Trevor's in Coeur d'Alene so that we could feed and change Emerson.  He decided that he wanted to wake up about 1 hour before we got there so I hopped in the back and stuck a bottle in his mouth and fed him a little bit just to hold him over until we got to Carrie and Trevor's.  The ride was pretty good other than the fact that as soon as we got into Montana we hit fog and were stuck in fog the whole way so we had to go a bit slower which was not fun for me at all but luckily Jordan was driving so I could just close my eyes and not worry about not being able to see at all.

When we got to Carrie and Trevor's, we were able to feed and change Emerson as planned and Carrie even made breakfast for us which was nice because we really didn't want to have to stop for food along the way.  We hung out there for a couple hours but then Emerson started to get grumpy so we put him to sleep in his carseat and then headed out again for the last 4 hours of our journey to Seattle.  It was raining pretty much the whole way until we hit Cle Elum and it was snowing pretty dang good the whole way up until we got through the pass so we had to go pretty slow around there too.  We finally made it home at about 4:00 and boy was I relieved to be done driving.  Driving through the night really does make the drive seem so much longer.

The next morning we went to church which was fun because I got to see lots of old friends that I hadn't seen in a couple years.  Emerson was a big hit in relief society haha.  The next day Jordan and I went to Jamba Juice and met up with a couple clogging pals and hung out for a couple hours.  Right as we were about to leave the mall, Emerson decided that he wanted to leak through his diaper and peed right on the floor outside of Petco.  Jordan said it was ok, since it was right outside of Petco, we could just blame it on somebody's dog haha.  On Tuesday, I got a bunch of friends together again which was really fun.  I hadn't seen a lot of them in about 3 or 4 years so it was great being able to catch up with everyone.  It's crazy how much people's lives have changed in the last few years but it was still fun seeing everyone.

Wednesday was Christmas Eve so we just hung around the house for pretty much the whole day.  Trevor and Carrie got to Seattle that day and after Trevor went to sleep, Carrie, Jordan, and I decided to go out to lunch and get some teriyaki.  So good!  Haven't been there in a long time.  Later that night we decorated cookies.  Carrie and Jordan's were very artistic...apparently I'm really bad at making cookies because everyone kept making fun of mine haha.  Finally it was Christmas!  We were able to skype Logan and Sierra which was really fun.  They were able to finally meet Emerson for the first time...not that he had any clue what was really going on.  We first skyped Sierra at 9:00 and then opened presents and then skyped Logan at 11:00.  Emerson got pretty spoiled this year.  He got lots of clothes and toys from his aunts and grandparents.  He was even able to open a couple presents himself although it seemed that he was more interested in just taking the wrapping paper and sticking it in his mouth.  Later that night we went to the Plowman's for dinner which was fun because we were able to see lots of family.  That night Jencen and Heidi stopped by to meet Emerson because they were out of town when everyone else came over and I was really glad that I was able to see them one last time as well.  That day, Trevor had told us that the weather was supposed to be really bad that weekend and that we should think about possibly leaving earlier.  We were supposed to leave the 27th but decided to leave the 26th.  I was upset that we had to leave the day after Christmas but I'm glad we did because when we got back to Rexburg, we hit some pretty nasty weather.  It had snowed about 1 foot or more!

Even though we had to cut our trip one day short, it was still very fun seeing everyone and I'm glad that I was able to go back and see the house that I grew up in one last time before my parents pack up and leave.  It was a great trip and I'm glad that Emerson got to see so many friends and family :)

Hanging out in his Christmas jammy's on Christmas Eve

Nice little smirk on Christmas morning

Opening presents

My mom still had the Santa outfit that both Trevor and Logan wore on Christmas when they were baby's.  It was so much fun seeing Emerson in it as well although the little hat made him look more like an elf than Santa haha.

Our Christmas sweaters this year.  Emerson's onesie said "this is my tacky Christmas sweater" haha.

3 Months Old

Today is Emerson's 3 month mark and he is changing so much everyday!  He learns so many new things each and every day and it's so fun to watch him be able to figure things out.  As of today, Emerson is 13.5 pounds!  He's getting so big that it's even getting hard for me to hold him when he's in his carseat.  Of course that could be because I'm not the strongest person in the world but I'm just going to go with he's getting really big haha.  He is now also officially in 0-3 month clothes.  We were going back and forth between 0-3 month and newborn but he definitely doesn't fit in the newborns anymore and is in all 0-3 month now.  His jammies are already starting to get too small but all of the onesies and little outfits still fit which is good.  He still eats about 6 oz. at each feeding.  Sometimes he'll only eat 4 or even want 7 but for the most part, he stays at 6 oz.  He's still pretty determined to hold his bottle.  Whenever we feed him, he puts his hands right up to the bottle but tends to wind up pushing it out of his mouth instead of holding it in there.  He's got a little ways to go before he figures that out but I'll be excited when he does have it figured out.

Emerson now actually grabs things on purpose!  When we used to lay him on his play gym, he would just kind of look at the rings and toys above him and hit them but wouldn't ever purposely grab them but he now actually grabs them and holds onto them for a while.  He's got a pretty good grip.  He's also figured out that if he gets his legs in just the right spot, he can kick the arms of the toy and it makes the whole thing shake and go crazy.  He seems to enjoy that quite a bit.  He still doesn't really respond to playing with toys but you can tell that he's starting to seem a little more interested than he was before.

Emerson is super talkative and loves to just sit there and chat with Jordan and I (especially Jordan).  It seems that Emerson has now figured out when Jordan goes to work because when he comes home, he gets super excited and starts smiling and kicking his legs and wants his daddy.  I have found a few times recently that when Jordan leaves the room, Emerson will follow him with his eyes and then will start to get a little fussy when he can't see him anymore.  And I thought he was a mommy's boy!  Not so sure about that anymore haha.  Emerson has also figured out a little game too.  Basically he wants what he doesn't have.  If I'm holding him, he cries and reaches out for Jordan so I'll hand him to Jordan but after a couple minutes, he'll start crying and reaching for me and then will be happy again when he's with me...for a couple minutes that is until he starts all over again.  Definitely working the system there haha.

Emerson is still sleeping through the night and is on a pretty normal schedule now.  He'll usually get his bath around 6:00 or 7:00 and will eat a little and then take a quick nap until around 8:30ish and then is up for a little while longer, gets his diaper changed, eats a little, and then goes to bed at about 10:30.  If he's really stubborn, he'll go to bed at 11:00 or 11:30 but not usually any later than that.  He's a fantastic sleeper!  Still sleeps 8 hours at a time but sometimes we get lucky and he'll decide that he wants to sleep for 9 or 10 hours.  He even slept for 12 hours a couple nights ago!  That was pretty impressive.  He doesn't cry when he wakes up, he just kind of sits in his crib and kicks his legs and talks to himself.  It's much nicer waking up to him talking than to him crying haha.

He is also a BIG smiler!  He loves smiling and will smile at pretty much anyone who looks at him and talks to him.  Jordan took him to the grocery store a couple days ago and apparently was stealing the hearts of all the little old ladies that spotted him.  He would just crack out big smiles at them.  What a cutie.  Whenever he wakes up in the morning or wakes up from a nap, as soon as he spots Jordan or me, he will get the biggest smile on his face and start talking to us.  It's so much fun when he talks to us.  I swear I thought I heard him say momma a couple days ago but obviously he doesn't know how to talk just yet.  He's definitely figuring out how to move his mouth though.  He likes to make the "m" sound and the "o" sound.  He has also figured out what his tongue is and chews on it a lot.  I never understood why he was doing that until I talked to my mom and she said he's probably just figured out that it's there and just plays around with it.  I thought maybe he was starting to teeth but no teeth yet.

Emerson is officially able to hold his head up as well when we give him tummy time.  At his 2 month checkup, they asked us how he was doing with that and I was disappointed to say he hadn't figured it out yet.  Well, the very next day, I laid him on his tummy and sure enough, he lifted his head right up and had no problem doing it.  Shortly after that, he was able to roll over from his tummy to his back.  Still hasn't figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy but he gets pretty close.  He gets about halfway there and then can't figure out how to get the rest of his body over but he tries.

I figured out yesterday that he loves to walk.  I picked him up and just started walking him a little bit and he had the biggest smile on his face!  He absolutely loved it!  He also loves to sit up!  We pull him up and as soon as he's sitting he gets super happy.  He can balance for a couple seconds but not any longer than that.  He's very determined to be able to get up there though and it seems like he'll be able to sit up before he rolls over with how determined he is.  It'll be exciting to see what this next month has in store!

All in all, this last month has been a fun one full of little surprises from Emerson.  We love watching him learn and figure things out.  He is a blast to play with and so much fun to be around!

Holding that head up like a champ!

Loves his baby gym

Love that smile!

He was getting all cozy before bedtime that night

That bug-eyed look gets me every time

He was refusing to smile that morning

He loves just chilling in his diaper

Those cheeks...

He loves sitting up

Waiting for dad after church

Sometimes he just stares haha