Emmett is One Month Old!

Today my littlest guy is one month old! How did that happen? It really does seem like it was just a few days ago that I was in labor and having him. These past 4 weeks blew by so quickly - I guess we have been loving on him and kissing him and holding him so much that we forgot to pay attention to the passing of time that was going on! Too bad those terrible first weeks of pregnancy couldn't have flown by this quickly! They seemed to go on forever!

In honor of him being so old (!), I took more pictures of him to show off his new talents and ever growing fluff! He is holding his head up so much better lately - he has always had great head control, but after a month of practicing he is really good now! This is a picture of him with a doggie his Aunt Suntaree gave him - she put his name on the little scarf to make sure Owen would remember that this particular dog was Emmett's and not his!

Emmett has always been every expressive and alert, but now his stretches of awake time are a tad longer. He is starting to focus on people's faces more intently and loves looking people in the eyes. He didn't much like me hiding behind the camera today :-)

He has started breaking out in little baby pimples this past week. You can sort of see one on his cheek there. I am not sure if it is from the orange juice I had, the chocolate pieces I ate at our R.S. meeting on Thursday, or (like I have read in baby books) if it is my female hormones trying to come out of him for good. Whatever the cause, it made him have a baby break-out on his face and head. I had to make sure I caught his "good side" today when doing pictures to avoid his red spots :-)

Personality-wise, he continues to be a wonderful baby! He puts up with everything I put him through without so much as a whimper. He may look at me funny, but he goes along with me! It is still pretty rare for him to actually cry, and he is they type of baby that you could lay in the middle of the floor and walk away from him and he would be content to lie there until you came back - not that you would leave a perfectly good baby lying around the house, but you could, and he wouldn't :-)

A new physical development is that the hair on the front of his head has decided to disappear in the past week or so; making him look like he has a serious receding hairline! The stuff in the back is as thick and full as always, but the stuff on front has disappeared down to the soft baby down layer that is virtually invisible! The top of his head is still my favorite place to sniff and kiss, but it just doesn't feel as feathery/tickly as it used to since he has less hair to tickle my nose! That hasn't slowed me down from smelling him everytime I get the chance, it just changed the feelings that come with each sniff!

I kept trying to get him to smile at me, but as soon as I went back behind the camera he got his serious face back on and the smiles would disappear. I should have had Scott there with me helping to get him to smile - he has been in such a great mood today and has smiled so many times - it has been really fun! He actually giggled for the first time today - Scottie was holding him and making silly faces and noises and Emmett was giving him smile after smile after smile. Suddenly he chuckled. No belly laugh or anything, but a definite giggle! It was wonderful! I was in the kitchen with them and so I got to hear it as well as Scott and it made everyone around him smile and laugh as well! I'm glad Scott got his first laugh - a lot of times us mommies get all the "firsts" and the dads can sometimes get the raw end of the deal. So this way now Scott has gotten one of the best "firsts" ever! Teagan was glad to hear it because she (being the girly-girl she is) believes that with his first laugh a fairy was born - thank you Peter Pan for putting that one in her head!

We went to a doctor's appointment this week and he has gone from his 8lb 3oz birth weight to 10lbs 1 oz! And from his 20.5" at birth to 21.5" - which puts him at gaining more weight than height, but that is the way my kids go - they pile the fluff on quicker than they grow bones! He is starting to get those cute little rolls on the inside of his thighs and a little roll around his wrist and on his fingers. And his cheeks are so kissably fluffy, it makes Teagan need to either kiss or tweek them every time she is anywhere near him!

Owen and Emmett are slowly getting to be better buddies. Yesterday Owen came up (randomly) and told me he was glad Emmett was in our family because without him Owen wouldn't have anyone to teach to walk. He will still rarely kiss him, but he does give him hugs now and openly talk to him and play with him. He is still taking baby steps in this whole acceptance process!

Emmett is still a swaddle baby - which I really like. A friend just passed down two swaddling blankets to us and I think they are great! They velcro around the baby and keep him nice and warm and wrapped tight. He gets startled really easily when he isn't swaddled, so he stays that way most of the day.

We have been staying inside with him as much as possible and will continue to for another few weeks. His doctor told us that the number of kids being hospitalized with RSV in our area is three times as high as normal this year, and we would be wise to keep him away from any exposure at all. We've already done the RSV roller coaster with Teagan when she was 4 months old and it was not a fun thing to go through; and it left her lungs permanently scarred, so we are trying very hard to keep Emmett from anything like it! It hasn't been too bad keeping him in though. Scott is home enough so that when I need to get out of the house for a sanity break, I can feed Emmett and run a quick errand alone. So another few weeks of keeping him safe won't be hard at all.

Well, that about sums up my monthly report about Emmett especially for my mom (she loves seeing pictures of him and needs a weekly dose of baby!). Lots of pictures, lots of info, and lots of love, Mom! I will have a couple more posts this week, so stay tuned!