Family Time

A whole lot of girls! Grandma Donna, Mom, Me & Emry, Lynne & Lila

Four Generations

Great Grandma and Grandpa Workman with Emry

Great Grandpa Bob with Emry

So excited for these girls to grow up together. They are going to be so cute running around together!

Emry's Newborns

Here are just some of Emry's newborn pictures. She did amazingly well at the shoot. I was worried she was going to be too awake or cranky but she did wonderfully. She slept through the first half and then was pleasantly awake through the last half. It was wonderful and I absolutely love how the pictures turned out. They are just so perfect! These are just a few of my favorites but there are so many more that I love too. I was sad Ryan couldn't come too because it would have been fun to do family pictures. Oh well, soon I guess. Enjoy our little Emry!

Funny Stories

Parenthood is a funny thing. A lot of funny things have happened since Emry has joined our family. Here are just a few funny stories for us to remember how fun it is to be a first-time parent.

Funny Story #1: The other night I woke up at like 4 AM wondering why I hadn't fed Emry in a while (it had been since like midnight or something). I was totally confused and I guess I thought I had fed her because I asked Ryan if he would go burp her because I just fed her. So Ryan, also extremely tired and being the wonderful husband he is, gets up and goes into Emry's room, gets her out of her bouncer (she is totally asleep) and starts to burp her. He does this for like 15 minutes until I wake up again and realize what I just did and told him that I didn't actually just feed her. He just told me to go to sleep because she was totally out. It was pretty funny! I woke up like 3 times that night just laughing about it. It is pretty funny the things exhaustion will do to you!

Funny Story #2: Sunday was father's day. I wanted to get a cute picture of Emry in her cute outfit and Ryan in his suit for a cute Father/Daughter picture. Well it didn't all work out because Ryan got sick and Emry was asleep a lot. Anyway, we decided to just snap a quick picture after Emry's bath of the two of them together. So I hand her to Ryan in her towel and get the camera to take a picture. While I'm taking the picture I hear water falling on the ground. It's then I realize that Emry just peed and pooped all over Ryan in his suit! It was the perfect daddy/daughter moment. Happy Father's Day to Ryan! 

2 Weeks

 I simply cannot believe it has been 2 whole weeks since this little girl was welcomed to our family! In some ways it seems so much longer, and in other ways, it has totally flown by! We have had such a fun 2 weeks. We are so thankful for all our family who has come to help us because let's be honest, I don't think I could do this on my own. I never thought I'd have so many questions as a new mom, but man, I feel like I ask a million questions a day. Thankfully I have a wonderful mom and mother-in-law who are always willing to help.
So in the last 2 weeks we haven't really done much. We have been to 2 doctors appointments (one for me and one for Emry), Lynne's house, and a couple of stores for some much needed items. Other than that, I've basically been home taking care of this cute little girl. I'm totally scared to leave or go on an outing because I don't think I'm quite ready for the whole feeding her in public thing. It is way more complicated than everyone makes it look, really! One day, I hope to get better and then I can go out again.
We have semi gotten into a schedule here at our house. We basically eat every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day and take a lot of naps in between. Then at night, I feed her sometime around 8 or 9, followed by a bath, and then it is daddy time. This means I feed her, give her to Ryan and then go to bed. He is in charge of her until her last night time feeding at around 1130 PM or so. Then I feed her one more time and down for the night she goes. (ok, not really for the night, but you get the picture). The first week she would give us like 4 hours in between feedings and I would wake up and be worried that I needed to feed her. I quickly learned I should just let her sleep as long as she will at night and so the last two nights she has actually gone 6 hours between feedings. It is wonderful. Here's to hoping this lasts and she continues to sleep longer and longer. I have found this week that I'm not very patient when I don't get enough sleep. I'm trying to be better though.

Here are some cute pictures of our life over the last 2 weeks.

Me and Emry after one of her baths. It is pretty cold in our basement apartment, hence the hat and really warm clothes,

 Emry looking so cute with her daddy (She totally has him wrapped around her finger! We are in trouble when she grows up!)

 Close up shot!

 Me and Emry

 I love being her mom. Look at that cute smile she likes to give out. She is too precious!

 Nap time in the crib. Such a cute outfit. I hate having to use those mittens on her but she scratches her face so we have to.

Tummy time outside. Mostly she actually likes her tummy. She is pretty strong and will lift her head from side to side pretty well. She also really likes it outside. I think it's because it's warm outside. Loving the sunny weather.

 Such a cute picture with her sun hat! Love this little girl!

Emry Kate Gardner

Emry Kate Gardner

June 2, 2012 -- 3:23 AM

8 Lbs 8 Oz

22 inches

Getting Ready for Baby

Baby's crib. We got a crib free from Ryan's friend at work and we painted it white. It turned out so cute, I love it! Vivian made the bed skirt which I'm in love with and the quilt hanging on the crib. She is one talented sewer.

Car seat

 Baby's closet with all the clothes ready for her to wear.

 Changing station with the diaper cake there ready to be used. 

We used the bookshelf to display some of her stuff. It turned out pretty cute, I think.

Baby's stroller. Can't wait to go on walks with her!Love the pink!

Baby's bag for the hospital all packed and ready to go! Can't wait for her to come!

Installing the car seat in my car

He did such a great job. Nice and safe for baby to come home!

Ryan's Birthday Party

We had a fun birthday BBQ/family get-together yesterday for Ryan's birthday. It also happened to be my due date and everyone kept telling me if I planned something for that day, then she would inevitably come and we'd have to reschedule. Well, it didn't work because I'm still pregnant. But we did have a really fun birthday BBQ. (We won't say how old he is because he gets incredibly depressed about it. In fact, the whole time if anyone said happy birthday to him he said, "it's not my birthday yet!" He is still in the denial stage of grieving).
Anyway, we had Lynne, Dave, Owen, Lila, Kelli, Brian, Cadence, Cameron, my Mom, Nate, Brooke, Gavin, Jackson, Paige, Jason, and my friend Rachael and Brian over. It was quite a big group for our tiny apartment but thankfully, the sun decided to come out and we were able to play and eat outside. It was really fun. Ryan grilled steaks and burgers to perfection and we just hung out and had a good time.
When it came time to have cake and ice cream, Brian told Cadence she could have cake once the candles came out of the cake. So we put the candles in the cake and put them in front of Ryan to start lighting and she goes up to Ryan and asks if she can sit on his lap. We sang a very out of tune Happy Birthday and then before we were even done, Cadence starts to blow those candles out! I think she has had a lot of practice on this because she took out more than half of those candles on there! It was totally hilarious. After they were all blown out she turns to me and says, "Can we take the candles out now?" haha! That little girl cracks me up! Anyway, we had a fun time and thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

 Ryan finally got to blow out like 3 of his own candles. 

Ryan and I. This is my 40 week pregnant picture. Enjoy it because I'm really hoping it's the last pregnant picture I will be taking. (And if you are wondering, I don't wear my own clothes anymore, that shirt is actually Ryan's... It's just more comfy that way!)

Pillows

Last night totally convinced me that pregnancy should actually be measured in how many pillows you use to sleep. For the first 2 trimesters I only slept with one pillow like a normal person. One pillow for under my head.  I was mostly normal except for the fact that I had to sleep on my side. Then came the huge belly that demanded  a pillow of its own. Pillow count: 2. One under my head, one under my belly. Still didn't feel like I was too uncomfortable. Then Ryan decided to go off to Asia and I had to add pillow #3 behind my back since he wasn't there for me to lean on. I was pretty much living in a pillow fort, surrounded by pillows on all sides. Again, I was still pretty comfortable, but I was pretty sure that 3 pillows was the max and it meant I was ready have this baby. I mean, where else could you put another pillow? Last night proved me wrong. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning with horrible heartburn. I'm pretty sure this baby girl was sticking her bum up in my stomach and forcing all my food up into my esophagus. It was not pleasant. Enter pillow #4. It's a gigantic pillow that props me up so the heartburn will go away. This and a couple of tums seemed to make the heartburn at least bearable to I could go back to sleep. The only difference is with pillow #4 came complete discomfort. This better be the max number of pillows for pregnancy because I'm ready for this baby to come and I'm running out of pillows!

Baby Shower

 One of my best friends Stephanie and her sisters threw me the cutest baby shower ever! It was so much fun and so cute! It was perfect for this cute little girl. Thanks to the Brassfields for all the hard work and for everyone who came to make it perfect!

 Me at 37 weeks pregnant

 

 Steph and me

 

 

Some of the really cute decorations

 

 This was where I opened all the presents. Everyone was so nice and this little girl has more clothes than I know what to do with! I am going to have to change her 3 times a day to get her into everything she has!

 

 The fun food table. It was vintage circus themed: hence the cotton candy and the popcorn machine. I love it! So cute!!

Best sandwiches ever!

 Yummy food!