'Tis the Season

Santa put Emma on the "nice" list this year. This Santa Claus was great. He had a real beard and had on his Texas boots :) We waited 2 hours for this shot--it was worth it, but next year we will not wait until the 23rd to get Em's picture with Santa. We have learned our lesson.

Emma showing off her Christmas PJs.

Trav and Em on Christmas Eve at Travis' Aunt and Uncle's house. We spent Christmas Eve with Travis' family in South Austin. It was great not to have to travel too far. We had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying delicious food. Everyone had agreed that Emma has grown quite a bit since they saw her at Thanksgiving.

Christmas Card Photo for 2008--Emma sure is in the Chistmas Spirit!!!

Christmas Day 2008-- Our first Christmas as a family of three. We spent Christmas day at my parents' house in Georgetown. Again...we were very thankful for the short trip and enjoyed day two of eating wonderful foods and visiting with family.

My cousin brought her son, Luca, over to my parents' house on Christmas day. He was born a couple weeks after Emma and was much smaller than her when they first met. He is catching up!!!

Ahhh...Mia enjoying a sugar high and has the sweets left around her mouth to prove it :) It was soooo much fun to watch Mia open her gifts this year. She was way more enthusiastic then Emma! Em slept through the opening of all her presents!

Mia's "Bear Bottom"

Mia and Emma--She had no problem letting you know when it was her turn to hold baby Emma. She has a lot of practice with her dolls and uses what she has learned with them to cuddle with Em.

Sittin' Cozy--Cam, Mia, and Emma

My, My, My...How Time Flies!

Rolling Stones Groupie?

You should hear the wail that goes with this face!

Entertained by her butterfly mobile.


Playtime--notice her hands and feet are blurry. She was moving them like crazy.


Calm Baby


Happy Baby



Precious Girl!

Emma is a month old today. I feel like we just brought her home. She went to the doctor for her 1 month checkup and got a clean bill of health. She is weighing 9 lbs. 13 oz. and is 22 1/4 inches long. She has started to fill out and is showing off her multiple chins :) I am loving the chunks of sleep that she is letting me have--her latest sleep pattern is eat at 11pm, wake at 3:45am and then again at 6:45am.

I decided to use this post to share what I have learned during this first month of motherhood.

1. I can accomplish more now from 6:45am-9:00am than I did in a whole day pre-Emma.

2. I am shocked that I can stare at a single person for hours on end and never get bored.

3. Getting up a couple of times a night to cuddle with Emma is not so bad.

4. Getting peed on and pooped on does not phase me like I thought it would--still waiting for my reaction to vomit :)

5. 3:45am feedings are the PERFECT time to catch up on DVR'd shows, read a couple of chapters in my book, or check email (one handed).

6. Running errands takes a million times longer with a baby.

7. I have to plan EVERYTHING around her schedule.

8. I hate seeing my baby being passed around like a football in a crowded room.

9. If Travis gives Emma a bottle at 11pm, I can go to sleep at 9:45pm and get a good 6 hours of sleep before her middle of the night feeding. Thank goodness for the pump!!!

10. I never thought I could love anybody as much as I love Emma and that I could possibly love my husband any more than I already did!

Ok...This is going to be a random mix of pictures and updates. I have not done very well about posting over the last couple of weeks. I hope to get better.

Our friend Karin posted Emma's newborn pics on her website. I am hoping to go over to her house this week and see if we can crop some of the pictures and make a couple of them black and white. You can see the unedited pics at http://www.karinmccannon.com/. Click on CLIENTS at the bottom of the page. We have 2 different galleries--passwords are Anjie1 and Anjie2. My favorites are with the black background.

This is a doll that I had when I was little. His name is Nicholas Benjamin. I thought it would be funny to see how Emma compared in size. Travis does not like this picture at all and hated the close up even more. I think that Nicholas Benjamin freaks him out.

GiGi holding Emma--Em is her 3rd great granddaughter.

Mia holding Emma--She loves being a big cousin!!!

Cutie Pie!

Funny thing has happened with my hair. I knew that hormones and breast feeding could change hair texture, but I did not think it would happen to me--I never do :) My hair is still curly, but it has funky, frizzy curls--some sections just stick out funny. I can try to use large amounts of hair serum to get it to look more polished and nothing happens! So...for now I am going to go straight--I just do not have the energy to fight the curls (or frizz) anymore!

My cousin, Ana, had a baby a couple of weeks after Emma was born. We went over to their house last night to meet Luca Noe. He made Emma look like a giant! I need to get the picture we took of our bellies right before Emma was born so I can have a before and after pic of Emma and Luca.

Pictures from Grandma Motal's Camera

We got some pictures from Trav's mom from the day Emma was born--so they are a bit out of order, but fun to look at :) I have been meaning to post them for a while, but finding a free moment has become quite a challenge. Enjoy.

Emma at 1 day old

Mia loving on Baby Emma

Uncle Brad

Grandpa Motal

Grandma Motal

Miss Photogenic

Our friend Karin came by and took some newborn pics of Emma today. Emma was the perfect model and had a great attitude for the entire 2 hours that Karin was taking pictures of her. Emma stayed awake for 95% of the shoot, but Karin was able to get some sleepy, cuddly shots of her at the end of the session. Karin said she should have Em's pics up on her website soon. I will post the link when they are up.

Emma getting some beauty rest after a long day of modeling :)

Another milestone in Em's life...

Last night at a 2:3oam diaper change, I noticed that Emma's belly button looked a bit different. She finally lost what was left of her umbilical cord--Thank Goodness! It had started to look soooo shriveled and yucky and was like a loose tooth, just hanging on by a thread. I wonder if Emma will end up having an innie or an outie :)