2 months old

My sweet Emmie Girl you are 2 months old. You had your check up today with Dr. Roseman and she said you are perfect!


At 2 months old you are 11lbs 14oz. You're wearing a size 3m or 0-3m. You are just about too big for size 1 diapers but we still have 4 packs so we're going to try to squeeze you in for a few more weeks. You are nursing every 2-3 hours during the day and sleep 3-4 hour stretches at night. Except last night. You were eating all.night.long. You are smiling and cooing for us and you even chuckle sometimes.


You love it when your big brothers and sister sing you Twinkle Twinkle. They are quick to sing to you in the car if you fuss. You like you swing and especially like watching the fish mobile. You don't like your carseat very much but will tolerate the car if we are moving. Once we stop, even at a stop sign, you're done! Two weekends ago we took you in the pool for the first time and that same day you went on your first hike.


Last week we took you to the beach for the first time but you just snoozed in the Ergo the whole time. Emmie, you are such a sweet good baby and we all just adore you. Your brothers and sister cannot get enough of you and think everything you do is so cute! We love you Emmie-wemmie!

Welcome Emmie!

On June 24th our family was blessed with our sweet baby Emmie!
Dear Emmie,
For weeks before your birth I had been having intense contractions. I had gone into Labor and Delivery twice and was being closely monitored with twice weekly ultrasounds and NSTs.


On the Monday you were born I went in for my final check up at Dr. Soffici's office. I had really wanted to skip this appointment but decided to go anyway just to make sure everything was ok. Good thing I went because during the ultrasound it was discovered that my placenta had stopped producing amniotic fluid. I went immediately sent over to L&D to be monitored until my csection that afternoon. I called daddy and grandma and sent out text messages to let everyone know that it was Baby Day! We had to wait 6-8 hours to do the csection because I had eaten that morning. Grandma got to the hospital first and then Grandpa. They sat with me while I got my iv hooked up and we all waited for daddy to arrive. Finally daddy arrived and Grandma and Grandpa left to take care of your brothers and sisters.

At 4:30 I was taken back to the OR. I was excited but super nervous. The anesthesiologist tried to place my spinal 7 times before giving up and telling me that I would need to be put under general anesthesia. I was so sad to have to miss your whole birth. Daddy couldn't come in the room either. It was a really upsetting situation for us. You were born at 5:20pm and one of the nurses recorded your first cry on my phone for me.
As soon as I woke up in recovery you were brought right to me and started nursing like a champ immediately. I was so thankful for that time with you. We got up to our room at a little after 8pm.


So many people were there to meet you. Grandma, Grandpa, Phee Phee, Logan, Gracie, Nathan, Collin, Uncle Paul, Wendy, Faraway Grandma, Uncle James & Aunt Nicole. Everyone took turns holding you and saying how cute you were.


By 9 o'clock I was exhausted and visiting hours were over. Daddy slept and I stayed up with you that night (and every night since your birth). We were in the hospital from Monday to Friday. My recovery was really hard and slow and my heart was so sad about our birth experience. But you made me smile and helped to heal my heart.


You were (and are) so sweet, alert and simply adorable. You were a great nurser in the hospital and had all the nurses and lactation consultants impressed. By Friday we were all easy to go home. You and Mommy and Daddy stopped for lunch on the way home. Since that day we've been happily adjusting to life as a family of 7!!

Breastfeeding was giving us both a bit of trouble. You weren't gaining weight as fast as you should have and we needed your latch fixed so that mommy could survive. We've been seeing a lactation consultant weekly to make sure you're gaining enough weight. This past Thursday (July 11th) you had your "2 week" check up and you were FINALLY up to your birth weight and even a little over! You tipped the scales at 7lbs 8oz. Hooray!!


I'm feeling much better now that I know you're gaining enough weight! Keep growing baby girl!

Emmie, you are such a joy. You are sweet and the perfect baby sister for our family. Your brothers and sister love you so much. They constantly asking to hold you and commenting on how cute, soft, pretty, tiny, perfect, quiet, etc you are. You keep mama up almost all night nursing and sleeping on my chest.


You sleep a lot during the day but also have moments of being awake a really alert. you have blue eyes and light bown hair. You are wearing mostly NB clothes with a few premie things thrown in from when Gracie was itty bitty. You wear a NB diaper and go through 8-12 a day!! You hate your carseat but don't mind being in there once we get moving. You like your swing and vibrating bouncy chair.


You've slept in your own bed maybe 2 hours since you've been home. You're definitely a co sleeping baby! Emmie, I'm so thankful for you and so excited to watch you grow.

Oct- Feb updates

Since my last update in OCTOBER, a lot has changed. A lot. On Phee Phee's birthday we found out we are pregnant with our 5th baby!! We are so excited.




In November we celebrated Thanksgiving with Ell's family at Becky and Jason's house. The kids had a blast. They always love to see their cousins. A few days later we got a new cousin. Camren Rolle was born!




December was a month filled with both joy and sadness. My cousin Meaghan and her husband Sam both welcomed and said goodbye to their sweet baby girl Charlotte.


My heart was so broken for them. The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with our Rodriguez family in Palmdale.
We announced that we were expecting and surprised everyone. The kids got new bikes and Uncle Abraham made them the coolest Mario Castle.





On December 23rd. My best friend Rachel had her sweet baby Charlotte!


We had a nice relaxing Christmas at home. We went to Christmas Eve service and the kids were so awful. on stage. they were pushing each other and laughing. I was furious and so embarrassed. Ell and I bought all the kids' gifts second hand to save money and it worked out perfectly. The kids didn't care one bit and we had hardly any cardboard packaging to throw out. We'll definitely do it again next year.
We spent New Years at home. We let the kids stay up until 9 and see the ball drop. We has snacks and sparkling cider and went to bed. On January 5th I went to Oregon for Charlotte's memorial. It was beautiful and so sad. I feel very blessed to have been a part of celebrating her life. Collin got to meet some of my Fischer family since he came with me.


Logan had been having a tough time at school. He was being rude to adults, refusing to do his work and not following directions. On January 11th we had a meeting with the director of curriculum (principal) and his teacher to figure out a plan of action for him. We decided to do a daily sticker chart, time away for him to calm down, increased communication between school & home and to let parent volunteers know what Logan needs were. I left the meeting feeling more hopeful than I had in a very long time. We took the kids to the snow for the first time. logan played in the snow once when he was 18 months old but never since then. We managed to buy or borrow snow gear for all 6 of us. We met Faraway Grandma and Grandpa there and Phee Phee came too. We had the best time. I definitely want to make it a tradition!














At the end of January, all 4 kids got sick with high fevers. Logan and Colly were the sickest and Logan ended up in the ER because we couldn't stop his vomiting. Poor guy.


I completely missed the twins' parent teacher conferences because of all my sick kids but I'm happy to report that they're both right on track. I knew that!
In February we celebrated uncle Paul's birthday with tacos and chocolate bundt cake. The kids made him a sign. On February 11th we went in for our anatomy scan. Ell met me at Dr. Soffici's office. I was so nervous and just wanted to hear that our baby was healthy. Towards the end of the appointment he said "3 lines, it's a little girl!" We could not believe it! We've never had just a girl before! I had made arrangement with a local baker to do reveal cupcakes.





I picked them up after my appointment and we had the fam over for dinner. After taco salad we all bit into our cupcakes to see PINK filling! It's was a very special way to tell our family that a sweet baby girl was joining our family. We had amazing weather in Feb and so we planned a beach day with the Powell's on the 16th. It had been forever since we'd seen them. we hadn't even told them we were pregnant yet! We spent the whole day playing in the sad and ocean. we had dinner together at Freebirds. Amy and I are only 4-5 weeks apart in our pregnancies. On February 22 we met Ell's family at Disneyland. We took a picture holding an "it's a girl" sign to announce to Ell's family and then on FB that were having a girl!!


Everyone was so so excited! Disneyland was so much fun Phee Phee came too. We stayed really really late, like 11:30. We were so exhausted but had the best time.
To be continued...

Finally an update (early oct)

Logan had a bit of trouble using his listening ears in the classroom the first month of school. We've been meeting with his teacher every.single.day...twice a day. I'm determined to keep him on track. He's been improving so much and having great days. I think we're finally over the hump. Knock on wood!! The lucky boy is out for 13 days of Fall Break. Mama is loving it too, no driving, no lunch packing, no getting out of our jammies if we don't want to! Logan was jus weighed and measured at school. A whopping 41 lbs, 41in. He also did lots of assessments with Annie and he's right where a 5 year old kindergartener should be. We're so proud of him. He really is working so hard on improving his behavior and making good choices. He's really interested in spelling words, writing words and trying to sound out words. I thinking Reading is right around the corner. Very exciting!
Gracie is still really into pretend play. Restaurant, doctor, picnic, baby are some of her favorites. Recently she started wetting her pants a lot, like twice a day. Also she seems to be peeing a ton. We had her urine check not too long ago but I'm going to mention it to the doctor next time we go (next week). The accidents have disappeared since Phee Phee promise her 1 penny every time she pees in the potty. Gracie is saving her pennies to give to babies that don't have any food or bottles. Such a sweet girl! She has a very giving heart and generous spirit. Gracie is growing like a weed. Most of her 3t clothes are getting too snug. Time to pull out the 4t stuff!
Nathan has developed a love of drawing. Our back patio is covered in his chalk drawings. He loves to use the Magnadoodle and pencils or pens. He is always asking mommy and daddy to draw him Mario, a penguin suit, a mushroom, Luigi or Toad. Did I mention we (our boys) are obsessed with Super Mario Bros?! We are so obsessed. Poor Natey boy is stretching out a little taller (not much) but is not a pound heavier than last year. There is only a 5lb difference between Natey and Colly. Nathan is also really interested in letters right now. He loves to ask "Mommy, what letter is this?" And then write a letter in the air.
Collin is 25lbs or sweetness! He just started walking at 13mos. He loves cars, trucks fire engines, airplanes & rockets. He loves reading books, especially with Gramma. He's a good eater and loves his milk which none of my other kids did. He's just about ready to move to his big boy carseat but we haven't made time to switch him over. He is finally sleeping through the night, mostly. He usually wakes between 4-5 and sleeps with mama until 6:30-7. He's still a mama's boy and I still love it. He will finally go in for his 1 year check up on Nov. 1st. Oops.
On Saturday we made the trip to Palmdale to see James surprise Nicole with a proposal. My kids gad been sick the few days before so we only took Logie and Gracie with us. Colly & Reedy stayed with Gramma and Phee Phee. I got a call around 7:30 telling me Colly was breathing fast. I had them send me a video of his breathing and knew it wasn't good. I told them to call 911 or go straight to the ER. I was 1.5 hrs away. Cue freak out! The paramedics talked to me on the phone and let me know they were going to transport him by ambulance. Cue freak out again! We jumped on the car and made it too the hospital in record time. I'm so thankful to Phee Phee and Gramma for taking such good care of my baby. Collin was finally released from the hospital around 1am after 3 breathing treatments, an X-ray, and some steroids. He was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease. basicly if he gets sick at all it goes straight to his lungs. its like a pre-asthma that he could (fingers crossed) outgrow by 2!! By the next day he only had mild wheezing and then slept great with no wheezing at all the next night.
Since Logan is out on break, Phee Phee and I took all 4 kidlets to Disneyland for 2 days. I went back and forth on wether or not to cancel the trip because of Collin's ordeal. I'm glad I didn't because he did perfectly. No wheezing, no inhaler needed. We had a blast at Disneyland. Almost no lines, not too crowed, and since we had 2 days we weren't at all rushed. We even met up with our favorite Uncle Abraham!! We'll definitely make this a Fall Break tradition. But next year we'll bring daddy.