One Month Old!

10.5 pounds, 22.25 inches

full head of dark brown hair

huge dark grey-green eyes

sleeps a lot during the day

is awake a lot during the night

outgrowing 0 - 3 month old outfits

eats every 2 hours

spits up

lots of hiccups

loud burper

loves laying on daddy's stomach

spends hours staring at lights

heavy & noisy sleeper

impatient eater

crazy head bobbing

rolls over onto side

Welcome to the world, Emmett!

Dear Emmett,
You were born at 4:30PM on Thursday, November 26th 2015, which fell on Thanksgiving this year. You weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces and measured 21 inches long.... what a big baby! You have a full head of jet black hair and it looks like you have your dad's hazel eyes, just a little darker. So far, you have been an easy baby to take care of... you hardly ever cry, only when you are getting your diaper changed and feel the cold wipe, and sometimes not even then. The hospital poked you for blood several times, and you didn't cry at all! Something else that amazes me is that you are not even 3 days old and you have a lot of control of your head and neck. When we put you on our shoulders to burp you, you can lift your head completely off our shoulders and look around.... newborns aren't supposed to do that yet!
You didn't have a very big appetite right after you were born... I guess birth makes you pretty tired, huh? It's taken a little over a day to get you going, but now each feeding is quicker and you eat more.
I love that you are such a big baby! You have a closet full of clothes and some of them are already too small for you to wear, and I am sure that you won't fit in the rest of them for too much longer. My current worry is that you will outgrow the size 1 diapers before I can use up all 800-ish of them. My mom has been here helping me take care of you, we are sort of tag-teaming it since I clearly have no idea what I'm doing yet, but you don't seem to care just as long as we get food in you quickly. Our world has been turned up side down with your arrival, and I could not love you more for it.
With all my heart,
Mom

29 Week Sonogram

Dear Emmett,
A few days ago I had another doctor appointment for a sonogram, and I got to see you once again! The sonogram confirmed my suspicion that your feet are up somewhere by my ribs, because I feel a constant pressure there whenever I sit for too long. We also found out that you are a big, healthy baby, emphasis on the word big. At that time, your weight was 3 pounds, 6 ounces and I'm sure you are bigger than that already. That put you in the 87th percentile for size: you were measuring as if you were 31 weeks instead of 29!
I feel you grow stronger and stronger every day: two days ago you were moving around so much it actually hurt! Not a bad pain, just as if muscles and skin are getting stretched that don't usually get stretched. It felt like your little arms were trying to punch their way out through my belly button, and my stomach would have random bumps pushing out. I've noticed that you tend to move more when I feel hungry, so it's probably your way of telling me "hey mom! it's time to eat!".
Your dad and I talk constantly about what kind of baby you will be, and even more about what you will be when you grow up. It's currently football season, so your dad's constant joke is that you are our "ticket to retirement when we turn 50", because you will turn out to be an NFL player since you will probably have the height and build for it. Don't worry, though, it's all a joke... you can go be whatever you wish when you grow up.
We can't wait to meet you, baby boy!
With all my love,
Mom.

Comfort At The Dentist

Dear Emmett,
Today I had to get some dental work done, and it was NOT fun. I hate the dentist. I have a low tolerance for pain, specifically when it involves anything going in my mouth and the high-pitched, jarring noise of a drill. The nurse offered me "laughing gas" to help me relax, but I couldn't take it since I'm pregnant. The funny thing is, even though I'm pretty much scared of all dental work, I ended up not needing any sort of extra sedation besides the local anesthetic.
They took my blood pressure before starting (113/66), and I was glad my internal "freak out" did not cause it to go up. Next was the bad part: injecting the anesthetic. Ouch. Now that I think of it, the pain was not terrible, but it was still quite unpleasant. After waiting a few minutes for it to take effect, the dentist started drilling and drilling and drilling. I didn't feel pain, but it sounded like someone put a chainsaw in my mouth. Ugh. It wasn't until then that I figured out why they gave me safety glasses... yucky mouth stuff was flying everywhere.
So back to my point, the reason I didn't need any extra sedation and was calm throughout the whole thing was you. I am currently 24 weeks pregnant and you will not stop moving! I suspect you are calm or asleep throughout the day, but as soon as I lay on my back you start kicking like crazy. It's quite entertaining to just sit and watch my belly move around while I wonder what you are up to in there. As it happens, dental work has to be done laying down, so as soon as the doctor reclined the chair you started kicking. It was much easier to focus on your movements than on the unpleasantness of needles and drills going in my mouth, so I was able to feel calm and almost drowsy while everything was going on.
Thanks a bunch, baby of mine. You cannot know it yet, but you bring me a lot of comfort just by being, even when you decide that repeatedly jumping on my bladder is your favorite pastime. I am sure your energy will distract me from all sorts of things once you're here.
With all my love,
Mom.

A Boy!

My baby,
Today (June 18, 2015) we found out that a baby boy would be joining our family! The first thing I did was tell your dad that we needed to get a girl dog to even out the teams in the house. He disagreed and said we were perfect just the way we were, but maybe by the time you get here he will have changed his mind. Wouldn't it be great to have a puppy your same age to grow up with?
All of my life I wanted a baby girl, until March 27th, 2015, when I first knew you were coming. All of a sudden everything I ever envisioned about my first baby went out the window, you had the same effect on me as your daddy, because everything I envisioned about a husband went out the window when I met him too. I am sure you will bring me a lifetime of surprises, whether I want them or not.
By the many fluttery movements I already feel in my belly I can tell that you will be alert and full of life, and just like your dad, keen to make yourself heard. I know this because you protest quite a lot when I sit in a position you don't like, as if saying "Mom! I need my space!"
The last time I saw you in a sonogram you were 14 weeks in the making, and your legs were all stretched out as far as the tips of your toes could reach, and my first thought was "We have something in common! I sleep like that too!" You looked at the camera the entire time and refused to turn around for the nurse to measure the back of your neck, and when she prodded you to try and make you turn, you wiggled and prodded right back at her. She also tried to look between your legs, but you closed them as soon as you felt her there and refused to open them up again.
It seems almost impossible to explain just how much I already love you. I spend most of my days daydreaming about the time when I will finally meet you, and I spend most of my nights really dreaming about raising you. And even though you are not even halfway to being born, I already want you to have a little brother or sister to play with. I want to devote my entire life to you and to any other children that may join our family one day.
My little boy, I love you so.
-Mom.

Before I Met You

Dear Emmett,
The day I first learned about you was November 17, 2012. I was not married, or even engaged to be so. In fact, your father and I were in the beginning stages of dating, and I hadn't quite made up my mind on whether I wanted to marry him or not. We were on a day-long date, first to the San Antonio Zoo, and then to your cousin Evelyn's baptism in Austin. She had just turned 8, and it was the first time I was meeting your dad's extended family. I was so nervous to meet them, especially because I knew that probing "marriage" questions would come up and I didn't have an answer yet.
I was pleasantly surprised when those questions didn't come; everyone greeted me warmly and asked us innocent questions, laughing at the irony that I was about to graduate with a degree in Environmental Science and your father worked the oil field. We soon proceeded to the baptismal room and took our seats.
It was a beautiful baptism. Love permeated the air, and a sweet spirit could be felt for the wonderful young family occupying the first row. I was enchanted by it all, which was strange, since I had been to many baptisms and this one was not very different from the rest. It wasn't until one of the speakers talked about the Holy Ghost that I finally learned of your existence.
Unexpectedly, completely out of the blue, I heard the sweetest voices in my mind clearly saying "I cannot wait to meet you." Tears filled my eyes as those words played over and over in my mind, and the purest, strongest sense of truth I have ever felt came over me. I have had my share of spiritual miracles, but to this day, that occasion remains the most powerful one of all. I know that at that moment, the veil thinned and I was granted a glimpse of my personal piece of heaven, and I knew without a doubt that I had known you once before, and we were all anxiously waiting to see each other again.
That was the day I knew I was going to marry your father. I have never shared this experience with anyone, but I want you to know this is the truest thing I know: I fell in love with you long before I ever met you.
With all my heart,
Mom