Perfect Present

Happy birthday to me (Mommy)! I enjoyed the day snuggling with my girls, then I enjoyed a night (well, 2 hours) out with friends. Big thanks to Daddy for taking great care of the girls. The perfect present!

Bath

Here's Emmy taking her first full (not sponge) bath. She liked it, and who wouldn't with the space heater going, nice warm water, and a comfy tub to soak. It felt like the tropics. Ahhhhhhh.

Doctor Visit

Emmy went back to the doctor today to check her jaundice. I was thrilled when Dr. Bryan took a look at her and said her coloring was good, so no need for the blood draw. Hooray, no pricks! Plus, Emmy weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces. We all left happy!

Over 7 Pounds

I'm happy to report Emmy is now over 7 pounds. I weighed her (using the scale we bought when Reese was so tiny) and she weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces. Good job, big girl (and I'll take some credit too)!

First Outing

Emmy enjoyed her first outing tonight to Target. She slept the entire time, so not sure she realized she was out and about!

Grandpa bought Reese a new My Little Pony at Target. On the way home I told Reese she'll have to show Daddy her new pony when she gets home. Reese told me, "Daddy will say WHAT!?!? What did you buy now?" She knows her Daddy too well!

Tracy, Laura and Katie

Thanks to Tracy, Laura and Katie for coming to meet their newest neighbor today. It was a nice way to break up the day - the first full day I am home alone with both girls.

New Outfit and Hat

Here's Emmy wearing an adorable new outfit and hat from Grandma Cipra. So cute -- and alert this morning!

Llama Llama

Reese enjoyed going to the play "Llama Llama Red Pajama". Thanks to the Simonsons for taking her since I didn't feel comfortable bringing a 2-week-old baby into a theatre full of potentially sick kids.

The storyline was about baby llamas going to bed. It must have made a big impact on Reese because she had one of her worst bedtimes ever -- she was wired and up until 1am. Not acceptable when your baby sister goes to bed at midnight. Mommy needs to sleep. So far Emmy has proven to be a much better sleeper than Reese. Emmy is giving me 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night. It's magical!

His Girls

Daddy loves snuggling with his girls!

Correne and Britt

Thanks to Correne and Britt for coming to meet Emmy and play with Reese. Thanks also for the yummy lunch. It was so great to catch up!

More Love

Reese keeps giving her sister love. Glad the novelty hasn't worn off yet!

Emmy's Name

When we found out we were going to have another girl, we started searching for the perfect name.

We determined we had to find a first name with a double letter since the rest of us in the family have double letter first names (ToDD, SuzaNNe, REEse, and even our kitty LiBBy) and our last name has double letters (HAAg).

We did a lot of name research before Reese was born, so we looked back at our past notes. One of our favorite names at that time was Emilia. While we still really liked that name, it doesn't have double letters.

I went to high school with a friend whose name is Emerlee, but we called her Emmy, and I always liked her name. I emailed my friend Emmy and asked her if it was okay that we use her name, if she had any nicknames (nice or mean) growing up, and if she liked her name. Emmy Gorman approved.

For all those reasons above, we chose the first name Emmy.

Emmy's middle name, Jane, is the same as mine and Grandma Cipra.

My Girls

Love this picture with my two girls!

G&G Cipra

Daddy had to go back to work a few days a week since he's training in on a new job at General Mills. So, a big thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Cipra for spending a lot of time with us these first few weeks. It's so helpful to have 2 people to play with Reese, hold Emmy, make us meals, and just keep us at ease.

Kristi & Luca Visit

Thanks to Kristi and Luca for visiting us today. They brought some adorable onesies and hair bows for Emmy and a dinosaur etch-a-sketch for Reese. They also brought us lunch, which is one of the best gifts! Reese had fun showing Luca her bounce house, sea creatures, and cars. Thanks for coming, guys!

Baking Our Baby

The doctor told us to put Emmy is the sun to help with hrt jaundice. Not an easy task because we don"t get a lot of sun in Minnesota in January. But we had some sun this morning, so turned on the space heater (have to keep her nice and toasty!), got down to her diaper, and baked away. Hope it helps!

Meeting Libby

We are pleasantly surprised with how well our cat Libby is doing with Emmy in the house. We were really worried because, just our luck, we hit a cold spell so our cat who loves the outdoors is now stuck inside with a new baby. Libby is sometimes wild, but has been very gentle with Emmy. She sniffs Emmy, often sleeps next to her (doesn't sleep ON her, which was my fear), and just looks at me with concern when Emmy cries. So far, so good.

Names

Reese names all her toy dolls, animals, dinosaurs, and more. We bet she has over 100 names that we have to keep track of. Whenever we (adults) forget a name, we just ask Reese and she knows it right away - she has an amazing memory. To give you an example, here are a few names...

My Little Ponies (she had us read the packages over and over so she could memorize these): Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia, and more

Little People (Reese made up these names herself): Marie, Felix, Curly, Trent, Trevor, the dog Chocolate, and more

Dinosaurs (some names from the Land Before Time movies): Sarah, Mr. Club Tail, Little Foot, Petree, and more

Stuffed Dogs (we often looked at the tags to determine these names): Dottie, Douglas, Fire Dog, Krypto, Red Bulldog, Clifford

Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberry, Lemon, Orange, Raspberry, Blueberry, and the newest character Cherry Pie (which I cannot find in any stores)

Reese got many Littlest Pet Shop characters for Christmas, but we are discouraging her naming them. We just can't keep track of any more!

Doctor Visit

Emmy had her first doctor appointment today. She's doing well, and here are her stats:
- Weight 6 lbs, 12.5 oz (14th percentile)
- Length 20.5 inches (she has already grown an inch and a half - either that or they did not measure her correctly at birth) (60th percentile)
- Head 13.75 inches (34th percentile)

The only negative was Dr. Bryan thought she looked a little jaundice, so had to have blood drawn. The blood work came back a little high, but not at a dangerous level. So we are supposed to put her in the sun in her diaper and bring her back for another bilirubin test in a week. I hate to see her pricked and it takes so long to fill a vial of blood, but I'm glad we're being cautious.

Can I Hold Her?

Reese occasionally asks if she can hold Emmy, and always asks to take her picture while holding her. Reese holds her very nicely, pats her head, gives her kisses, then after about 30 seconds says, "I'm done." What a good big sister!

Tummy Time

Here's Emmy doing tummy time for the first time. She did great, did not cry, and moved her head from looking one way all the way to the other. Big, strong girl!

Libby enjoys doing her version of tummy time too.

God Bless Emmy

Emmy was baptized today at St. John's Lutheran Church in Corcoran. Emmy slept throughout the entire service and just stirred a little bit when water was poured on her head. Big sister Reese did well too! Thanks to sponsors Troy and Tammy.

We had a small party at our house after church. Too bad Grandpa and Grandma Haag are already on vacation and Lauren is sick so Brian, Becky, Jack and Lauren could not come. But we had a nice celebration, and it was a special day for our little girl. The cake was a big hit - it looked like Emmy wanted to take a bite and Reese picked out her favorite piece with lots of frosting.

Lots of Updates

We finally put Emmy down (we have been holding her non-stop since she was born) and Reese went to Heather's house to play, so I had time to update the blog. I have lots of new posts, so scroll all the way back to Jan 9th.

Ruffle Butt

I love this new outfit Heather gave Emmy. The ruffle butt is too cute!

Pro Hospital Photos 3

Still more professional hospital photos (sorry, they are all so good!).

Pro Hospital Photos 2

Some more professional hospital photos.

Pro Hospital Photos

We decided to have some professional photos taken at the hospital, and I'm so glad we did! She looks like a perfect little angel!

Home Nurse Visit

We had our home nurse visit this morning. I'm happy to report that Emmy is doing great!

- She is already almost back to her birth weight (she dropped to 6 lb 7 oz before we left the hospital and is now back up to 6 lbs 10.5 oz)
- Her coloring looks great
- Temperature is normal
- And she's a pooping machine! It is normal to have just 2-3 poops per day at this point, but Emmy is an overachiever and poops with each feeding, so about 12 per day. What this really means is that she's getting plenty of calories and her digestive system is working great.

It's so nice (and different from Reese) to have a good eater. She demands food about every 2 - 2.5 hours and is a great sucker. I welcome the pain this is causing me (seriously, it feels like shards of glass - ouch!).

G&G Haag

Grandpa and Grandma Haag came to meet Emmy today. Reese was excited to play with them, and loved that they brought more presents!

Going Home

All snug and ready to go home! I love how she's holding her paci in her mouth!

Emmy is doing very well, and we left the hospital around noon. Time to head home and continue this new adventure!

Flowers

Some beautiful flowers we received. Reese picked out the pink roses in the gift shop and my co-workers sent the other bouquet. So nice.

More Visitors

Brian, Becky, Jack, and Lauren came to meet Emmy tonight.

Pastor Johnson from our church also came to say a little devotion for our blessing.

Troy, Tammy, Peyton, Brayden, and Aubrey also came. I couldn't believe how big Aubrey looks next to teenie tiny Emmy!

Emmy is a lucky little girl to have so many people who care about her!

Daddy 'n Me

Daddy went with Emmy whenever she had to leave the hospital room for anything. I think these two are going to be buddies.

After her first bath, he picked out a cute purple hat for her to wear. He also accompanied her to her 24 hour tests. She passed with flying colors and was so proud when the nurse told him Emmy passed her hearing test faster than any baby has ever done it before.

Visitors

Reese came back to see Emmy today. She received a big sister present of 6 My Little Ponies, which she was very excited about and kept her busy.

Heather and Ellie came to visit too. They brought Reese another big sister gift of a dinosaur, dinosaur game, and cupcakes -- they know exactly what she likes! They also brought the most adorable outfit and headbands for Emmy. Thanks, ladies!