wedding bells & baby smells

so i mentioned that we had our first family outing for matt & holly's wedding rehearsal last weekend.  well, what comes next?  a wedding of course!  benny spent the day at the beautiful bed & breakfast where the reception was held with little emmie.  i was able to feed her in between primping and spending time with the bride & maids.  my mom came in the evening so we could both attend the ceremony & rehearsal.

the entire day was beautiful from start to finish.  usually august in kentucky is the stickiest, hottest mess but on holly's day it was perfect.  75 degrees and sunny.  ptl.  the venues, the details, the vows, the couple - it was just perfect.  how gorgeous is holly? and her dress - obsessed.

the bride & her family were so accommodating; they found ways for emmie to be near & for me to still get to be involved in all the festivities.  they already had plenty on their minds so i consider it extra-special that they would take out time to find a place for us!  it was a little bit challenging for me to juggle feeling like i should take care of emmie and be a supportive friend & they helped to ease that quite a bit.  i knew e.c. was fine, it's not really like a guilty feeling, just more of a wanting to take care of her & know that she's alright.  she had a wonderful day & momma got to have some girl time. i'm so thankful for  that.

once we arrived at the church i realized that i brought my pump but no bottle to pump into [i had left it at the b&b in one of ben's bags].  bummer.  i started to feel anxious, not only am i terrified of leaking all over my silky dress during communion but i also don't want to do anything to hinder milk production.  double bummer.  someone suggests pumping into something else.  i don't know if it will work but i find a dusty bowl in a cabinet, a small piano room down the hall and give it a try.  since i was in a fancy dress there was no choice but to strip down, sit on a bench in my undies, plug into the wall & pump into a bowl.  i felt ridiculous.  but not quite as ridiculous as i felt walking down the hall post-pump with a bowl full of breast milk.  my plan was to sneak on down the hall & get everything cleaned up before i saw anyone.  of course as luck would have it, the two bridesmaids i don't quite know exited our bridal suite just as i passed by.  "are you on your way to feed a cat?" they wonder as they eye my saucer full of milk. 

 

 i'm so excited for the websters to start their lives together.  we are so blessed to get to be a part of that, on their wedding day...and ever after. 

my favorite part of the day was when matt spoke at the reception.  he thanked everyone for being there and then went on to say that he couldn't let this opportunity go by, with all the most important people in their lives in one place, and not give glory to God and let their guests know how the Lord has changed them.  it was such a sweet & sincere moment.  i knew matt was a great man if holly would choose him but hearing that heart for people & confession of faith just made me so thankful that this will be the man leading one of my favorite friends.  i know God will use their family in mighty ways.

life with a mini

so here we are as usual, much later than i'd hoped.  i don't want to miss out on documenting all of little bean's daily adventures.

emmie collins, you're now 3 weeks old and getting stronger and bigger everyday.  you are such a sweet little girl and my heart just about explodes when i hold and snuggle you.

new things:

you are precious in the morning.  when i come get you out of bed you just stare at me with bright eyes.  you're just simply adorable - it may easily be my favorite time of day.  you slept in your handmade cradles for the first two weeks or so and then graduated to your crib before poppa started his big boy job.  he needed to get some sleep sans your many grunts and coo's.  by the way, you are very vocal.  you found your voice about a week or two in and have been 'talking' ever since.  you make mom and pop laugh all the time with your oh so many noises.

this morning i think i got you to smile at me on purpose for the first time.  normally you just smile because of gas, sweet baby dreams or when we squish you.

your emilical cord fell off [ew].  right now it looks like you have an outtie.  i'm not sure if they stay the same or if they change as you grow.  if this is your final button then i believe you're an outtie little lady.

you're also losing your baby 'fuzz'.  this is good news for your shoulders but not such good news for the top of your head.  you have very long hair in the back so the thinning upper portion [aka the horseshoe effect] is a little troublesome.  don't worry princess, you'll grow out of it.  someday you're going to have more locks than you know what to do with.

you are a pretty great little sleeper nowadays - you sleep from around midnight until 7 am.  and then go right back down for another 2.5 hours or so.  it's pretty incredible to have a few solid hours of rest.  it's funny what two weeks of sleep deprivation will do to you.  look at that sleepy little chunk! having a sleeping babe on you is one of the sweetest gifts.  unfortunately, you don't get a lot done when you let babies sleep on you.

before you curse me for having a sleepy babe, you should know that just about every other night or so she screams her face off for an hour or two.  completely inconsolable.  nothing is wrong, she's just pissed.  we're praying she grows out of that soon because her angry hour falls when we will need sitters most often.

you love poppa-emmie time.  you love when dad snuggles you and pokes you.  sometimes you just stare and stare at him.  poppa wishes he could be home with you more so he could cover you in sandpaper kisses and give you raspberries.  he can't wait until your big enough for him to throw you in the air [momma on the other hand, can wait for that].

nothing makes me happier than seeing you with your pops.  he is so sweet with you, when he takes care of you and misses you, when he wants to hold you really bad - it is precious.  you are really blessed emmie.  you have such a caring father who has taken exceptional care of your momma [and you] through this whole process.  he's always willing to help me and has dropped everything to do so when i'm struggling.  i'm so thankful.

you eat really well too.  you don't eat for as many minutes as they say you should but i think you might just be efficient.  you always seem pretty satisfied and are definitely growing so i'm not too worried about you.  chins & pit rolls don't lie.  nursing you is one of my favorite times - they said that it will be good bonding and i think that is completely accurate.  i may feel the same if i was bottle feeding you, but the time that we have together when you're eating is just real special.  it is a little hard to explain why and i feel a little crazy trying to put it in words.

you do awesome things with your hands when you eat.  well, all the time but especially when you eat.  sometimes you fist pump [which i was almost tempted to ask the dr. about because that seems really strange for a baby], sometimes you try and hold my hand or squeeze my fingers, and sometimes you just point, ever so delicately with your pointer or pinky.  it is adorable.

we kind of had our first family outings this weekend.  this was you in your first dress.  sorry the picture isn't so great.  this is after we got home; you had had a long evening and were in need of a diap intervention.  you looked adorable and did a great job rehearsing for matt and holly's wedding.  you even walked down the aisle with me once; i pretended you were my bouquet.  you had your first bottle during the actual wedding and i'm so thankful that it went just fine.  you drank the whole thing and didn't give nana karen much trouble other than some fusses.

sweet emmie, we love you so.  you've had your first baths, first walks with momma and poppa around the neighborhood, snuggled so many people, covered our home in spit-up [and other bodily contents] and filled our hearts with joy.  you're already so sweet and strong.  i can't wait to see how the Lord forms your little heart.  we're so thankful for you, your health & your sweet spirit.

we're getting into a bit of a routine and can't wait until life is just a tad more predictable.  i can't believe we're creeping up on a whole month old!

covered in spit up with no where to go

i thought about titling this post 'porn star boobs & a granny belly' but then thought better of it - who knows how that would come back to bite me. :) 'covered in spit up with no where to go' is equally appropriate for our life right now since it pretty much sums up the everyday happenings for me and the babe right now.  there are places that we could go but aren't going to go because little bean is still, well, really little & we don't want her to get sick and all her first week out in the world.

me and the little lady have about 6 wardrobe changes a day.  well, in reality we just keep changing her swaddle because keeping real clothes on her is a little pointless and i don't mind her precious little nakey self either.  i have the option of either staying in the spit or changing tops over and over, so perhaps needlesstosay...we've been doing a lot of laundry because i don't really like being cold.

ben has been working up at the school the past couple days to prepare for the first day of classes which is next wednesday - yikes / yay!!  so me and miss emmie have been holding down the fort and soaking up momma-baby time.  it is a certainty that you should have about 6 hands when taking care of a newborn baby.  i keep finding myself trying to hold, pick up, wipe, carry & make with far less hands than i have.  maybe some mommas are more coordinated than me, but man - i've got my two hands full.

luckily, since we've been home we've had lots of visitors & helpers by our side which has been such a blessing.  our friends and family take such good care of us, it is incredible.  on the flip side, the little moments that ben, emmie & i get alone are really precious.  even though we're sleep deprived, a tad delirious and a teensy bit irritable, i have loved every single second of it.  even when it's 3 am and the babe is wailing and ben is frustrated, i can't help but think how lucky we are to have this little, mini sumo that's all ours and how thankful i am that i get to share that with my favorite man in the whole, wide world.  it's just a pretty sweet time.

emmie collins, here are a few pictures documenting your very first week of life.  you are a doll & we l.o.v.e. love you.

introducing emmie collins

 she's here! she's here! she's here! 

and she is absolutely perfect.  we are head over heels in love with this little bean.

we're happy to introduce our mini bundle of joy, little miss emmie collins

born friday, july 27, 2012

5:14 pm

8.2 pounds (ow ow)

20.75 inches long

we've been home for a few days now and we're slowly adjusting to parenthood, life with an itty bitty.  we don't know what we're doing, we don't get much sleep and everything about it is absolutely glorious. 

i'll be back soon with more life updates, chunky baby rolls, a birth story & the start of our new life as a family of 3.