The Horn Family: 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Where on earth has the time gone?

It seems as though we have been carrying on in a fog these past couple of weeks...Emmy has stayed true to her "angel baby" nickname, but we have definitely had a steep learning curve since her birthday! I don't want to risk sharing too much information, but breastfeeding has been a challenge for sure. I am 100% committed to getting this right--I have seen one too many babies throw up formula. This is the first time that I am genuinely grateful to be pig-headed! I never thought that I'd be saying that my favorite Christmas present would be a fancy breast pump...but it has been clutch in getting us through this new adventure! I am just praying that we can figure this out as soon as possible and then I think we both will be much happier campers!

Since we needed to temporarily resort to feeding Emmy pumped breastmilk in a bottle, she has been quite satisfied and will actually sleep for some good long stretches! Ideally, we would be napping at this time, but unfortunately it has become our catch-up time with other non-baby responsibilities :-/. Nick has been pulling double duty...Being a rockstar of a husband, daddy and breastfeeding support person (he found a bunch of breastfeeding tutorials on you tube to help me out! :-)). He has also been finishing up his out-processing from his current unit and in-processing to the 101st Airborne Division. His change-of-command ceremony will take place next Wednesday and then he will have to jump into high gear to get his soldiers deployment-ready. So many big life changes that are all happening at once...

Emmy and I have ventured out a handful of times...It's definitely a bit trickier to get errands finished now, because I have to plan the day around her feeding schedule. So far, she LOVES her carseat and riding in the car. I have been so very lucky that she has slept through all of our errands thus far! She even let me get my hair done yesterday (I refuse to look like a shlumpadinka on Nick's big day!!) I was such a proud mama that my sweet baby girl was so well behaved at the hair salon :-D.

We also paid a visit to our pediatrician for her two-week well baby check-up yesterday! Little Miss is gaining weight well--she is officially 7 pounds 13 ounces! That news was such a relief considering how obsessed I've become with making sure she is fed! :-P She is as healthy as can be! :-D She's such a happy little baby (when she has a full belly) and it is hard not to get lost in her big eyes...So far, we have learned that she loves her pacifier, her vibrating chair and getting her hair shampooed! We are so excited to learn all that there is to know about our Emmy!

Sleeping when I can!

Happy times

Nothing like sleeping on daddy's chest

Two weeks! Where on earth has the time gone?

It seems as though we have been carrying on in a fog these past couple of weeks...Emmy has stayed true to her "angel baby" nickname, but we have definitely had a steep learning curve since her birthday! I don't want to risk sharing too much information, but breastfeeding has been a challenge for sure. I am 100% committed to getting this right--I have seen one too many babies throw up formula, this is the first time that I am genuinely grateful to be pig-headed! I never thought that I'd be saying that my favorite Christmas present would be a fancy breast pump...but it has been clutch in getting us through this big adventure! I am just praying that we can figure this out as soon as possible and then I think we both will be much happier campers! :-P

Since we needed to temporarily resort to feeding Emmy pumped breastmilk in a bottle, she has been quite satisfied and will actually sleep for some good long stretches! Ideally, we would be napping at this time, but unfortunately it has become our catch-up time with other non-baby responsibilities :-/.

Nick has been pulling double duty...Being a rockstar of a husband, daddy and breastfeeding support person (he found a bunch of breastfeeding tutorials on you tube to help me out! :-)). He has also been finishing up his out-processing from his current unit and in-processing to the 101st Airborne Division. His change-of-command ceremony will take place next Wednesday and then he will have to jump into high gear to get his soldiers deployment-ready. So many big life changes all happening at once...

Emmy and I have ventured out a handful of times...It's for sure a bit trickier to get errands finished now, because I have to plan the day around her feeding schedule. So far, she LOVES her carseat and the car. I have been so very lucky that she has slept through all of our errands! She even let me get my hair done yesterday (can't look like a shlumpadinka on Nick's big day!!) I was such a proud mama that my sweet baby girl was so well behaved at the hair salon :-D.

We also paid a visit to our pediatrician for her two-week well baby check-up! Little Miss is gaining weight well--she is officially 7 pounds 13 ounces! That news was such a relief considering how obsessed I've become with making sure she is fed! :-P She is as healthy as can be! :-D

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!!

Nick, Emmy and I would like to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas!! We hope that you are enjoying this special day surrounded by loved ones!

Today has been much like the last number of days have been: falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning, squeezing in a couple of feedings and then getting up for good around eleven o'clock :-p. We opened presents, watched "A Christmas Story" and devoured breakfast at around three...We could, however, have done without Darla munching on a few pieces of gum with an ingredient, Xylitol, that is very toxic to dogs. Needless to say, as I was feeding our daughter (which has become a rather uncomfortable task lately :-/), Nick was sitting on the floor inducing vomitus from Darla after phone consultation from both our Vet and the ASPCA...Never, ever a dull moment....Now, I need to start thinking of what to make for our Christmas dinner :-P...Flexability is my new mantra!

Emmy's rejected Christmas card picture

Second attempt...Currently suffering from a "Milk-coma" :-P

Third times a charm! By far and away our favorite gift under the tree...

Emmy's pacifier= her favorite Christmas present

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

And then there were three...

It's amazing what a relatively restful night of sleep will do for someone's overall state of well-being! We put my fancy new breast pump to use and my loving husband took the first half of the night shift and my darling daughter cut us some slack for the second. Thank the Lord!

"Overwhelmingly wonderful" pretty much sums up this past week in just two words. Nick and I felt so blessed that we were able to enjoy some one on one time with our parents before Emmy's big debut. It was an appropriate way to ease into the transition of parenthood...

Nick and I agree that last Wednesday was undoubtedly the best day of both of our lives. Our wedding day was beautiful and a boatload of fun...but there was no greater feeling than welcoming a perfectly healthy baby into the world who shares a little of both of us. She is truly an example of God's work, and is a miracle in every sense of the word. The beginning part of Wednesday wasn't nearly as joyful as the end...Holy cow, how does any woman give birth naturally?! My mom had been poking fun at me for being so adamant about getting an epidural (why feel pain if you don't have to?) But I quickly informed her after Emmy arrived, that I believe I had 60% a natural birth...Dr. Anderson, Nick and I agreed that we'd begin the epidural once I got to 4cm to make sure there was a good labor pattern in place before potentially slowing things down with an epidural. Well, 4cm came and went while the nurse anesthetist was detained in a c-section. All I can say is Nick absolutely gets a gold star for all that he did to take care of me...The IV meds that the nurse administered didn't touch me after about 45 minutes--leaving me writhing in pain (note the rats nest on my head!) for another almost two hours. Once I cried to Dr. Anderson about how bad the pain was, the nurse anesthetist came running in and put my epidural in before I could have another contraction (which were coming about every 2 minutes :-P). THEN I signed the consent form. :-P

The epidural delay aside, we had every best case scenario for Emmy's birthday. After I was good an numb, I closed my eyes for a brief minute, and before I knew it, we were ready to go! I agree with Dr. Anderson when he said that it was a fun delivery...I probably could have laughed Emmy out because I was so comfortable and because the jokes kept coming. Definitely not how I pictured the delivery to be--it was so much better! And then it got even better, because Emmy joined the party...and life has never been so good.

We are so touched by all the love that our little family has received...All the encouraging words, the visits, the generous offers to help and the gifts to make sure that Emmy is well taken care of. It's humbling, really, just how blessed we are. We got the red carpet treatment at Gateway, all of my friends took unbelievable care of Emmy and came by to chat and share in our excitement!

Friday morning, Emmy got to take her first breath of fresh air! (There are a lot of firsts going on in the Horn house these days...) We packed her up (according to Nick it's like moving Cleopatra :-P) and he drove UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT (that has never happened before) home to our waiting families! We spent the day hanging out, passing Emmy to many pairs of loving arms, and capped things off with a family dinner at our favorite Knockem Hill BBQ. Saturday was Emmy's first doctor's appointment, because they wanted to keep tabs on her jaundice and the doctor said it was improving! Later, we celebrated as an entire family, for the first time in years, a delicious prime rib Christmas feast courtesy of Mom and Dad! Andy, Claire and Emmy stole the show with their matching Christmas outfits and then their matching jammies--it was too cute!! We then opened a mountain of gifts and continued to eat, drink and be merry!

Sunday was our church's special Christmas service! Nick and I were excited that we could be a part of the program in that we were involved in a video presentation of different families reading the Christmas story. We represented the expectant family, which was pretty crazy because now it's hard to imagine life without Emmy. The Christmas message presented in the sermon--"a baby changes everything"--felt as if it was directed right at us. Thank goodness my mom was there to anticipate my every need, because she was ready with tissues! Under the direction of Chef Grant, the Horn family treated us to a yummy mexican feast for dinner that evening! We are so grateful that there were some leftovers, because we couldn't get enough!

Yesterday, the Horn and Odell families departed. As sad as we were to see everyone go, we are ready to forge ahead and focus on getting to know Emmy (and learning how to encourage her to sleep more at night and less during the day...) and to becoming more confident parents. It's all so exciting...