"Party in my crib, 2:00am!"

So Emery is 3 months old now and is gettin heavier! She rolled over for the first time Nov. 4th! Now that's all she does when you put her down...she's a holy roller! I have been reading a book called "The no-cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantley because I have decided that ignoring her while she is screaming is not the right way to get her to sleep, plus I feel like she thinks I have abandoned her and I don't like her to cry. When I try to just let her cry-it-out it just makes things worse and she is wide awake and upset. Now I don't run to the crib at every noise I hear and sometimes I let her whine for a little bit, but loud crying...NO, not for me. The book just informed me of how babies need to be taught to fall asleep on their own in a peaceful way by starting a bedtime routine and getting them use to the comfort of their own bed in a good way. Emery normally goes to bed after fighting sleep around 2:30am and then wakes up once to eat and then we are up around 11:00am. And she sleeps with us, which is fine for now but we don't get good sleep when she is in the bed with us. I am constantly worried if she might get squished or roll off the bed or something. I get so frustrated when she won't go to sleep and wants to fuss and kick the covers off of her! But then of course she looks at you and grins! Little stinker. So after trying some easy and caring techniques and patience, she is doing pretty good. We start off with our bedtime routine: She gets a bath, a massage with lotion, I play with her, she gets her tummy full, and then I rock her to sleep and then put her in her own bed in her room. She wakes up about 20 minutes after I put her down and then I just rock her to sleep again and put her back to bed. We have a baby monitor in our room with a screen so I can see her and hear her when she wakes up. The book also says that it is good to play with them in their crib during the daytime to get them use to it and like it instead of it being a scary place. Also, it's good to put them down for bed as soon as they show signs of sleepiness then let them drift off to sleep themselves. So far Emery has gone to bed at 9:30pm in her own bed for 4 nights straight! We are so proud of her. No crying! She does wake us up once to eat around 4:30am and then goes back to sleep. I know it's only been 4 nights but I thought she would never even sleep in her own room and to be honest I kinda miss her little body snuggled up to me and her feet and toes wiggling on my belly. Last night I just couldn't stand it, I was watching her sleep on the screen and I just had to go get her and put her in bed with us!

Now that I am not working I have alot of time at home to spend with Em which can get boring sometimes so I have been into reading books, which I never thought I would have an interest in. I also have lots of time to research things on the internet which is not always a good thing...somethings I come across I wish I never knew, although I have been reading about "going green" and I never really thought about recycling and stuff like that, but I think it is good to help the environment and not be wasteful. But I don't want to go too crazy with it and start living all natural and growing my armpit hair out! Just kidding! It all started with me researching products that would not irritate Emery's skin cause she has break outs with the regular good smelling baby products. Then I came across a website that talked about all the toxic chemicals that are in our everyday products. Now I do think that using natural ingredients in products are good but I don't think I could go completely "green" or organic and get rid of my make-up, hair products, skin products, and such, and buy everything organic (it is expensive!) but I have considered "green" cleaning products and soaps and detergents...stuff that's not harsh to our skin. I don't know...I am for sure going to recycle though.

I also read Jon and Kate's new book and I really liked it. It was easy to read and it really showed how they both had to trust God through their tough times. I like their show.








Oh yeah...I have been trying to get a picture of her pouty lip so here it is. So cute!

Fall

So this was Emery's first halloween. She was a kitty cat and a pumpkin! Of course we really didn't go trick or treating anywhere but we had a few come to our house. Eddie was night flying that night so he didn't get to see her in her cute costumes but I did take pictures. I took her to see the neighbors and I met a new couple while walking to the mailbox. They are from Columbus, MS (my home town)...can ya believe it! They are really nice and hopefully we can hang out and I won't be so bored!!!

The next day we got up and drove to San Antonio to see Eddie's family: mamaw, papaw, great aunt carolyn and uncle larry, aunt kim and uncle cliff and his cousins makenzie, pearson, and andy. Cliff and Kim live there now and everyone else drove or flew in to all be together for Cliff's change of command ceremony and because he is leaving for iraq for 6 months. Me and Eddie walked around town and walked on the riverwalk. It was nice but crowded and I now understand how handicapped people feel cause we had to go to certain places and try to find an elevator to get down to the riverwalk with Emery's stroller. We also saw The Alamo. It was cool and there was lots of big old trees with huge branches. I love old trees. While we were walking around we actually witnessed a couple praying for a young man on the sidewalk and they were leading him to Christ. It makes ya feel good inside to know that there are still good Godly people in this world, even in a big city, and that God and christians are out there trying to save the lost people of this world.

...the riverwalk.

We stayed the night with the family and spent some time together. We went to John Hagee's big church. I spent most of the service in the hallways with Emery but they had tv's so you could see the preacher.

Here are some more pics...