Gettin' Schooled

I have this fancy diploma from a top-ranked nursing school and I have logged in thousands of hours caring for babies and teaching their families how to care for them. After bringing Emmy home, I have realized that I really had no idea what I was talking about before. I apologize to all of the new parents that I have led astray for the past 5 years. Emmy has been "schooling" us both with how to properly care for her. Here are a few things I've learned:

1. You cannot adhere to a rigid schedule with a newborn. Period. Especially when your nursing...Baby calls the shots, they need to eat when they are giving off signs of hunger--that is the only way you have a prayer of having a satisfied baby and establishing a good feeding pattern.

2. Breastfeeding is hard. Really hard. A new breastfeeding mother needs lots of support and encouragement to stick with it to get to a point where it's not hard anymore. It really does get better and the benefits are so worth the temporary discomfort!

3. It's unsafe to sleep with your infant in the bed with you-but sometimes your infant wont sleep otherwise! When you are sleep-deprived and desperate to calm your crying baby you will do whatever it takes, and it's all too easy to fall asleep as soon as they are quiet. I am proud to say that Emmy has slept four nights on her own in her Pack-N-Play.And I have had much more restful sleep because of it.

4. The vacuum cleaner and blowdryer are clutch in buying me a few extra minutes of cleaning or showering.

5. All modesty is out the window--I have had to get comfortable with nursing my baby in public (with the help of my trendy cover) if I have any hope of ever leaving the house.

6. I have to begin preparing to leave the house no less than two hours before I need to be somewhere.

7. I have just learned that nothing makes me happier than watching my Nick rock our daughter, seeing a smile creep across her face while she sleeps, hearing her sweet coos and feeling her tiny fingers cling to mine. I never knew that life could be this wonderful.

Is it just me or is her hair becoming lighter?? (Nick and I have a bet whose hair color she'll take after--he had dark hair and I was a blondie as a kid, and, well, I still am, just with some chemical help. :-P)

Emmy's only job besides eating and sleeping: holding her own pacifier.

Is that not the saddest face ever?? Is it wrong that I think it's funny? :-P

Tummy Time! Thank you Auntie Kris & Uncle JP for my play gym mat!

Our beauty

Daddy's home from Fort Rucker! Catching up on cuddles...

Airing our clean laundry

It's hard to believe that our Emmy is 4 weeks old! I have begun referring to her as my little string bean because of her long and lean little figure...She still looks so tiny, although it's beginning to become apparent that we will probably need to retire her "newborn" wardrobe pretty soon here. I feel the need to document her tiny little laundry piles, because this stage is just so fleeting and I never want to forget how little she was at the beginning...

Amelia Bedelia

Since Nick has been away for the week, I have been focused on trying to adopt a new routine with Emmy (as much as she'll let me). It hasn't gone quite as I had planned, but because I am now uber-flexible, I'm ok with that. So, I read Emmy her first bedtime story last night...It took me a little longer than I had hoped to change her diaper, put on her jammies, take the dogs out to go potty, fill up my water bottle, find my Boppy and climb into bed with all my girls. By the time I cracked open Amelia Bedelia, my Emmy was fast asleep. Mission accomplished, I guess...

Smiling in her sleep...everyone should fall asleep happy like Emmy :-)

Shout Out to LS Photography!!

My girlfriend, Lindsey, posted her favorite pictures from Emmy's newborn session on her website!! Check them out!! She did such an amazing job!!

http://www.lsphotographyonline.com/babies.html

Commander, Captain Horn, reporting for duty

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Nick and I are pretty notorious for making many big life transitions at once, and this time is no exception! On Wednesday, January 6th at 11:00 am Nick assumed the command of Bravo Company, 5th Battalion, 101 Brigade in the 101st Aviation Division. Many years ago, when Nick and I first began discussing our future in the Army, he told me that his ultimate goal would be to take on the role of a commander. At that time, the opportunity was still several years away. It's hard to believe that the time has come. Nick has left his position in the Special Operations community for one in the conventional Army to lead soldiers into combat. This is a leadership opportunity that allows him to make the greatest impact on these soldiers, their families and the mission at hand.

The Army has a very special way of celebrating milestones...There are many ceremonial traditions, deeply rooted in history, that are used to mark special occasions. Nick took over the command from his good friend, Ian, before a crowd of a couple hundred of his new soldiers, their families, the Hooter Brothers from his previous company, military dignitaries and his parents, who had flown in to help celebrate this huge achievement. He gave a brief 34 second speech (which he thought was still too long :-p) accepting his new role...I couldn't have been more proud!! After the meaningful ceremony, Nick dismissed his new company and invited the crowd to enjoy the BBQ lunch that we had arranged (it's tradition that the incoming commander provide a lunch reception after the change of command ceremony-thank you Whitt's BBQ for cooking!!)

That evening, Emmy got to spend some special two-on-one time with her grandparents! Nick had to pry me away from her (I hadn't been away from her since she was born!) to get all gussied up for the annual Brigade Ball. We joined his new soldiers and their spouses for a dinner and dance in Hopkinsville. I couldn't help but think to myself what a long way we've come since our very first military ball when I was 17 and Nick was a yearling (sophomore) at West Point...

So from here, Nick is in the final stages of preparing his troops for their deployment in March. There is a lot of work to be done-it'll be a bit like taking a drink of water from a fire hose for the next few months. But I have faith (and so do his superiors) that he is up for the job--if anyone can handle it, it's my Nick. Because of his new position, I have also assumed some responsibility as Nick's Command Teammate. I will be working with his soldiers' spouses preparing them for the deployment as the Family Readiness Group leader. Fortunately, my girlfriend, Katie, held this job previously and has so graciously offered up lots of advice to ease the transition. We are definitely embarking on a big new adventure...This next 15 months or so promises to be a very wild ride, but from what I hear, it will be a positively life-altering experience.

The Bravo Company flag was passed from the First Sgt. Williams to Captain Fuller, the previous Bravo Company Commander, to Colonel Taylor, the 5th Battalion Commander, to my Nick, the new Bravo Company Commander!

Nick and Captain Fuller standing on each side of Col. Taylor. They rotated their positions partway through the ceremony. When Nick "took" command, he moved to Col. Taylor's right.

Emmy sleeping like an angel during the ceremony. She got a shout out from Col. Taylor in his speech!

Nick's record-breaking short and succinct acceptance speech!

My Nick standing in front of his troops at the end of the ceremony.

My Nick and Bravo Company in formation.

Family portrait in front of one of Nick's aircraft (he has several that he is responsible for in his company). Emmy was trying to stay warm-it was a balmy 21 degrees outside!

Horn family portrait!

The Brigade Ball was the evening of Nick's change of command. I bought the only dress I could find in (sort of) my size two days before...Thank goodness Emmy was patient with me as I scoured Governor's Square mall between feedings! Have I mentioned that shopping is miserable in Clarksville?? :-/

SNOW!! This is apparently enough snow to shut down Clarksville--none of the kids had school!

Molly and Darla LOVE the snow!

A couple of pictures that we just received:

Emmy cuddling with her "Grammy" Horn (please excuse the disaster area that is my house!)

Gettin' some grub from "Poppy" Horn.

Tubby Time!

Emmy's umbilical cord finally fell off last week (it hung on for about two weeks!) Which meant it was time to take a big girl bath! Nick had been chomping at the bit to put her in her little bath tub and he finally got his big chance! He positioned himself in the tub and held onto her tightly as we scrubbed her down! We learned that she doesn't like being naked very much (I hear that will change once she hits around 2 although we will continue to encourage her modesty) but she does like the feel of the warm water and she definitely likes her head to be shampooed! Now she smells even more delicious than she did before!

Emmy relaxing despite Daddy's death grip.

She has a very expressive forehead--she frequently gets this pensive look on her face...Clearly she is a deep thinker like her mother. (haha! :-P)

The family bath tub


I got the best job drying her off!


She has such big hands and doesn't always know what to do with them--but they always seem to land in the cutest possible position.

Bright eyes

New Year's Baby!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! It's always such a wonderful feeling to be able to start fresh!! 2010 has so much promise already!! I would say we've kicked things off on the right foot...

Nick, Emmy and I rang in the new year at our friends' Molly and Luke's house with some of our wonderful friends!! We had an amazing dinner and a few libations (which warranted my very first "pump and dump" occurrence--kinda sad but SO WORTH IT!) We were so excited to hang out with Josh and Lindsey who had traveled back for the weekend!! So, pretty much, there is nothing that Lindsey can't do...She is a phenomenal cook, she's crafty and she is one heck of a photographer. She actually has her own business...LS Photography. I'm not so sure how many drinks she had last night, ;-) but she so generously offered to do a newborn photo session with Emmy today!! Lindsey (AND JOSH!!) were so patient with Miss Emmy--who was most interested in snacking on her fist and refused to go to sleep after her feeding :-P. Lindsey just sent me a sneak peak from the session today and I couldn't wait to share Emmy's first documented SMILE!!!

What a happy girl!