and visions of sugar plums danced in her head..

Emma's fussy time is in the evening. By this time of day, she is super tired (since she doesn't like naps) and refuses to let herself fall asleep. This equals an unhappy baby. In an attempt to not lose our minds and soothe a crying baby, we placed Emma in her swing. She usually does not like the swing, or anything else she has to be strapped in to, but on this particular evening, something seemed right about it for her! So Dusty pulled out all the stops. He strapped her in, turned the vibration on the seat, set the swing, and turned on the music. Probably a little too much, but he was desparate. She cried for a second and then stopped, just staring up at the mobile, listening intently to the music, as if she had heard it many times befoe. The music was none other than the sugar plum solo. That's my little ballerina!

Nap Time

Nap time is so much better with a snuggly Emma...

Rub-a-dub-dub...Emma in a Tub!

Emma had her first bath Saturday. I am not sure who was more nervous - mom and dad or Emma! The cleaning went relatively well, no major disasters, and only one wet person, Emma of course. She couldn't figure out if she loved the bath or hated it. She would cry, then stop, as if she was thinking, hmm...this feels pretty good. She especially liked it when daddy would dump water down her tummy. Maybe she'll be a little water bug!

All the Small Things

I love everything about our little Emma. She’s so cute from head to toe. I love her little ears, her little nose, and small but defined lips. Her fingers and toes are so perfect and already have wrinkles. I love how her hair sticks straight out on top. When she’s lying on my tummy, it tickles my chin. But it’s the even smaller things that I love. When she’s sleeping and she kicks of the blanket, and her little toes stick out. And then, out of nowhere, in her sleep, she’ll stretch out, sticking those skinny little legs straight into the air. While she sleeps, she makes noises. Sometimes they scare me. Yes, I’m an over-protective mommy, but other times they calm me. I lie in bed next to her bassinet and just delight in her sounds. When she’s feeding, sometimes she sounds like a little termite, just snacking away. It makes me laugh. She’s changed so much in two weeks, growing more and more of a personality each day. I continue to treasure the small things in life with her

Two Weeks Old Today!

Two weeks old today! Time is flying by already. Seems like just yesterday I was sitting at work and everyone was stopping by saying, “You’re still here?” I was anxiously waiting Emma’s arrival and couldn’t wait for her to get here. It has been a whirlwind of a two weeks. I feel like labor and delivery flew by and before we knew it we were going home. Since we’ve gotten home, we’ve been so busy on a continuous cycle– feeding, changing diapers, sleeping. I hate to think if two weeks feels like one day, how five, ten, twenty years will feel. When I feed Emma, I sometimes like to stare down at her and think of all she will become. I tell her about my hopes and dreams for her. I never realized until now that having a child not only brings a lifetime of joy, but a lifetime of worry. I love that she is here, in my arms, but I could protect her so much better when she was in my tummy.

Awnry Emma

I am just amazed at how something so little - 13 days old to be exact - can have such a little personality. Then again, I should have known. She had a little personality when she was inside of me. When we went for our 20 week ultrasound to find out if she was a Jack or an Emma, she cooperated, for a minute. She let us know that she was in fact an Emma and then decided that was all we needed to know. The technician could not persuade her to cooperate any more!!! Other times she's stretch her little self out inside of me and stick her hiner way out. When I'd tell her Daddy to feel my tummy and feel her, she'd move away quickly. Well, she's still like that. Some times when we're feeding she just attacks and goes for it. Other days, like this morning, she doesn't want much to do with it - or not when mommy wants her to. She purses her little lips together and turns her head away as if to say, nope, not gonna do it.

She also likes to make her body stiff as a board, so when you go to burp her, you can't get her over your shoulder because she's making this incredible arch with her back. Maybe she's working on her flexibility so she'll have beautiful blue birds one day when she dances Snow Queen or Sugar Plum - :) She kind of looks like she's meditating sometimes with her arms and feet crossed!

A Day in the Life of Emma

Oh, it's so hard being a little baby. So much to do, such busy days. Let's see. Our day starts with a morning feeding. This is one of my favorite feedings because Emma and I chat. We talk about what we're going to do that day, eat a little breakfast, and watch Ellen. Then off for some tummy time with mommy and daddy.

Seems like every time I turn around it's time for another feeding, so we feed. Then sleep. Feed then sleep.

We try to get some wake time in there too. Sometimes, Emma stays up just long enough to play a tune with daddy or get a nice sponge bath.

By the end of the day, we have a mountain of laundry and a pile of dirty diaper bags, but it's all worth it.

Emma's Hair

Our little Emma was born with beautiful dark hair. Her hair is so dark and so soft. I love to just touch it and brush it away from her ears. She's so beautiful. Her hair has been the topic of conversation with everyone who comes to see her. It has been the source of amusement for her mom and dad. I know we're so mean. Here are some shots of her gorgeous hair and sometimes bad hair days.

Also, I realized what her hair looks like. There are these little birds that winter in Sanibel. We always called them Daddy Doug birds because their hair resembled that of my father. Well, now dad is not alone. They are Daddy Doug and Emma birds!!!

Emma's Adventure Home

We left the hospital on Friday. Good-bye Iris suite. Hello world. Emma was wide-eyed, just like the day she was born, and ready to take in everything. We were so excited to carry our precious gift home. Dusty was hilarious driving. It reminded us of the movie Knocked Up, where he drives 25 mph all the way home. Dusty hand covered the horn most of the way home, just in case someone was to pull out in front of us!

You can't see it, but Emma had the most adorable outfit on. It was yellow, with little lambs!

Emma's New Friends

Emma met many new friends while in the hospital. She has loved all of them! Well, some she may have slept through - but that's OK too!!!

Emma met her great grandparents, Omi and Poppop. They were just thrilled to meet her!!

Our good friends Katie and Kevin stopped by for a little visit while we were in the hospital. Emma's future friend, Baby Owen, is due in September. We are so excited! Showers for Owen are coming up soon! Sorry Kevin, I had to share this picture. It's too cute.

More good friends and UTC buddies stopped by to see Emma. The Moncrief family stopped in to say hello and introduce future best buddies, Emma and Ada. Kristi and Nathan also stopped by for a hello. Emma's other future buddy, Nolan, is due any time now. We're so excited and cannot wait to meet you Mr. Nolan!!

Emma had a surprise visit from our friend Mandy and her new little bundle of joy, Abigail. Emma is going to have so many friends to play with! We're so excited!!

Emma's 1st Visitors

Lots of family stopped by to visit the Divine Miss Em on her first day here in this world.

Her Grammy was so very excited to see her and she brought her beautiful pink flowers.

Her Papa stopped in for a snuggle.

So did her Uncle Spencer and Aunt Alicia. Spencer and Alicia are expecting twins in December, so Emma is already looking forward to meeting her cousins.

Uncle Mitchell stopped by as well - we realized he is now a great uncle!!

Best Coach/Daddy in the World!

Dusty, proudly wearing his coach shirt with Emma's foot prints on it!! Dusty has been awesome during this entire experience. Emma and I could not have made it without him. He helped me breathe, he helped me push. He has changed every diaper, and wrapped every swaddle. I thank God for him continuously. I love you Dust.

Emma's Mom Mom and Pops

Mom Mom and Pops were among the first to visit Emma Wednesday evening. This is the first grandbaby all around - for the Northey's and the Crane's. It was an exciting event to meet her!

Emma's Story

Emma entered this world on July 9, 2008 at 2:51 PM. She weighed in at 7lbs 5oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She had tons of gorgeous dark hair and her eyes were WIDE open. She immediately wanted to take the world in.

It all started that morning, at 3:45AM when my bag of waters started leaking. Little did we know that the night before when we went to bed, we'd be waking up to a totally different adventure than cubicle life at Shaw and TVA. That night we had gone for a walk in the park, I was energetic and goofy (what's new?) and was hopping/skipping/jogging all over the place, determined for our little miss Emma to make her debut before Monday. I guess it worked. I woke up at 3:45AM and our bag of waters were leaking. It took me a minute to figure out that was going on. When I realized, I calmly woke up Dusty, who amazingly got right up and started pulling out doctor's paperwork to see what we should do next. We called and they told us to head to the hospital. We were so excited. I did manage to take a shower and put on some make up before we left - what's a girl to do!? The drive to the hospital was a very strange one. Knowing that we'd never drive those roads again as the two of us was scary, exciting, and beautiful - all at the same time. It was a pretty quiet ride between the two of us. We arrived at the hospital at 5AM. Two other girls were also arriving - but for scheduled inductions. One walked in with only a folder of paperwork - and here we were with everything AND the kitchen sick. I was thankful to see the other was just as over-prepared as I was. They sent us right up to triage to determine if infact the bag of waters had ruptured and it had. They sent us right to our room and got us all hooked up to monitors so we could keep an eye on mommy and Emma. My doctor came in around 9 or so, and at that time I decided contractions and throwing up were no fun and ordered an epidural. I went until 10:30 or so without drugs and thought that had been a good shot. The pain was not fun, and neither was the throwing up. I think the worst though, was that there seemed to be no time to rest in between contractions to catch my breath. Dusty was a wonderful coach through it all, though. Around lunch time we were at 7cm, so Dusty decided to run out to get cash so he could buy food. The nurse checked me while he was gone and I was already at 9 almost 10. She said, as soon as he gets back, I think we can start pushing. I couldn't believe it!!! He came back in and couldn't believe it either. We started pushing around 2PM. Dusty said a had V8 torque or something! The nurse had to ask me to stop pushing because Dr. McLelland had not made it yet. She was running across the parking lot! So we pushed again when the doctor arrived and not to soon after, we were staring at our beautiful baby girl.

Our Bundle of Joy has Arrived

So here we are, a new little family. I'm sitting here right now - to my left is my gorgeous baby daughter - so sweet and content - taking a snooze. To my right is my wonderful, loving husband, also taking a snooze. We're all doing great.