7 weeks!

Yesterday Emma turned 7 weeks. I cannot believe that much time has already gone by. It means I only have 2 more weeks at home with her before I go back to work. Every night, I look down at her as she eats and mentally tick off one more day on the calendar that I have with her. She's so peaceful when she eats too, that it becomes harder and harder each day.

Her reflux is getting more under control. She gets colic drops once a day, about midday. We finally got her reflux meds, so she gets those twice a day: morning and evening. We aren't using the gas drops *near* as much either. I don't know if this is temporary or not but I will take this reprieve! I love spending time with my happy-go-lucky baby girl!! Thing is... she is JUST LIKE HER FATHER!! LOL

She looks like him. Still. I swear, you hold her head up next to his and you can't tell which hair belongs to whom! Her ears are his. Her lips are his. And those feet are monsters!! She does have my eyes though. They are dark blue/grey like mine and they have my dad's shape which is nice to see.

She also has to be moving, just like her daddy. Me? I could sit for hours and read a book or watch movies...just relaxing. Now I couldn't do this all the time, but yeah... I could definitely do that every once in a while. Emma though...She can't stay still. She's so inquisitive. She wants to know what is going on all the time. I think that's why she fights sleep sometimes. She doesn't want to miss anything. Sometimes she makes her daddy and I walk around the house or yard with her. She can't be still. Some people call her a diva because she doesn't want to be put down, but I think it's more that she can't get-up-and-go on her own yet. When she can, I have a feeling she is going to be getting into everything.

First night in the cradle. Such a big girl!

We tried her in her handmade cradle this week too. The jury's still out on this one. See, if I can get her into a sound sleep after her bath and bedtime feeding, then she does fine in there. However, in the middle of the night (or 3am) when she wakes up to eat again, she really doesn't want to be in the cradle. I've tried taking her to her room and rocking her until she sleeps, but she won't do it. I'll try feeding her and rocking her until she's asleep. Once she's *really* asleep, I'll lay her back in her cradle. This might work or it might not. It might take several attempts. Or I might be up ALL NIGHT with her. Because I refuse to go to sleep with her in the bed. It's so hard some nights, when she is just fighting sleep, but I know the best thing to do is let her know Mommy is right there when she needs me, but she will not sleep in my bed. Not now, not ever. That sounds harsh, but it's how I was raised. My mom would come to my room, my bed and comfort me after bad dreams or whatnot. I was taught that a person's room, a person's bed is sort of sacred. You show it respect. You take haven in your own room and bed. I know she's only 7 weeks, but I think it's better to show her those things now.

Last night we started off with her in the cradle, it worked for about 2 hours and then she wanted to "eat" again. More like, she just wanted me again. I put her in the swing downstairs in the living room and she went right to sleep. I slept on the couch for about 2 hours so I could be near her if she cried (we don't have a monitor in the living room for obvious reasons--we didn't think we needed one there! I tried again around 3am, but it was a no-go. So...I put her in the Rock N Play, which she had been fighting recently, acting like she wanted more room to spread out. The second I put her in it, she was A-SLEEP! I moved the cradle back into my closet and brought the RNP upstairs. We both slept a lot better after that. lol

She's smiling all the time now too. Ceiling fans and box fans are her favorite things. She will stare up at them and just LAUGH and LAUGH!

So that's about it. Here is a picture taken of her on her 7week birthday:

Happy 7weeks Princess!!