Emmie: Two months

Dear Emmie,

It's been two months since you joined our family, little girl, and I'm still amazed at how much you change each and every day.


Emmie, two months old

This last month you really woke up. You are so much more alert, looking around and smiling all the time. You first smiled at about five and half weeks, but then you were shy about showing off those two dimples for the next two weeks. But just in the last two weeks, you have started smiling and lighting up the room multiple times a day. You'd think Daddy and I had never seen a baby smile before with the way we react and stage photo shoots whenever you grace us with those gummy grins.

This past week you also realized you have a big brother. You react to the sound of his voice now and try to turn your head to where it is coming from. I laughed out loud today when he was babbling at naptime and you could hear his voice over the monitor and you kept moving your head like, "I hear him, but where the heck IS he?" But you smile at him and watch him run around and generally are quite interested in what he is doing. He's pretty interested in you now, too. He covers you with kisses and hugs, most of the time unbidden by your father or me. He loves you, but it's a kind of tough love, as he still gets in a whack on your head now and then.



We took you for your two-month doctor appointment last week and learned you are pretty much a giant. You measured a whopping 24.25 inches, which means you are taller than 95 percent of all the other 2-month-old girls out there. Of course you came in at the 25th percentile in weight at 9lbs 14 oz, so all your clothes that fit you in the legs fall right off your little hips. Somehow you still fit into some of your newborn clothes, so you don't look like a total dork with suspenders holding your pants up.

We also found out that you will probably need surgery to correct a hernia. I noticed a bump one night when I was changing your diaper and it came and went over a few days, so I took you in to the doctor. He recommended we see a pediatric surgeon, so we'll take care of that this week. They say it should be a routine procedure, but there's nothing routine about it for us or you.



Your sleeping has changed a little over the last month. You aren't sleeping as long in your overnight stretches (now it's more like four hours instead of six) but you have made some progress in sleeping in your bassinette. Now you can at least start the night there before I bring you in bed to feed you. Then you eat on and off every few hours until we get up for the day. It's not ideal, but it works and everyone gets a little more sleep that way. And we're all about the sleep in this house. Apparently, you are as well, because you're still sleeping most of the day. But then you decide it's time to be awake just about the time Mommy is thinking about hitting the sack. Your longest awake time is usually from 8-11:30 p.m. -- or later. That makes for a very tired Mommy when Daddy is out of town working. Hopefully this month we can work on adjusting that.

The breastfeeding is going great. You have improved your latch significantly and have mastered the art of eating while lying down. That makes Mommy very happy as now I can pretty much feed you and sleep, which makes those early-morning feedings a lot easier on everyone. Especially since they seem to happen at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. every day. But you still find the boob to be soothing, since you fall asleep at every feeding. You would think it would make it easy to get you into a deep sleep, but usually it just means you take a short catnap and then you're awake again, raring to go.



You're also still rocking the mullet you have had since birth. There is a patch of hair on the back of your head that is much longer than anywhere on the rest of your head and Daddy recently remarked that is why you are a little fussy at night -- you want Mommy to shave your mullet off. The jury is still out on how it's going to look if the rest of your hair doesn't start growing soon, so the shaver might have to make an appearance sooner rather than later.

But I'm sure you won't care either way. You are still such a laidback baby. You get schlepped around on errands and to Jack's various classes and playdates and you are just so content to sleep in the stroller or your carseat. We took you on your first airplane ride this month, all the way to Phoenix for a nice family vacation. You slept the entire way there and back, and were great about all the moving around and strange environments.

You're like your Daddy that way -- you just go with the flow and don't let things get you upset. It's fitting you should have his temperment since just about everyone, including me, thinks you look just like him. I look at you sleeping with your fist next to your face (the position you favored even during most of your ultrasounds, ironically) and you look just like him. But when you smile, I don't know who you look like. I can't see past those dimples -- seriously, the dimples are just killer -- and your eyes light up and I can see the delight in your whole face. Between that smile and your still-blue eyes, I think you're going to have a long line of suitors at our door.



Emmie there are times where I look at you and the love overwhelms me. You are so small and depend on me for everything and I am trying hard to do a good job for you. Sometimes, in the middle of the night when I hear you waking up, I look over and see you lying next to me and I smile. There you are, looking at me as if to say, "Hi! Let's play!" And even at 3 in the morning, it's all worthwhile. All the needles in my back and months of restrictions and the labor and the sleepless nights -- I have a daughter. You made it all worthwhile. You have changed me forever, for the better.

Love,
Mommy