First Week Back To Work

Well I survived my first week back to work. I was honestly preparing myself for it to be this terrible experience, but I think it wasn’t that bad. I don’t know if I was just ready for a break to get out of the house or if it was a little relieving knowing that Emma will be in good hands while we are at work. Don’t get me wrong it was a little hard the first day leaving her, especially when I had Michael asking me the entire way to work “how are you doing” and “don’t be afraid to call my mom 50 times today”. I was so proud of myself that I didn’t cry, but then I kept thinking is something wrong with me, like I should have cried. I mean this was the first time I was leaving Emma for more than a few hours.

It has also been very nice having our meals prepared and ready for us to eat right when we get home; and not to mention the house is clean and picked up everyday. While that is one nice gesture our parents are doing for us, by no means do we expect it, but we do appreciate it. I try to get things picked up the night before or the morning of just so they don’t have to worry about anything.

And then it happened…today was Michael’s first day home with Emma. He was going to be all by himself, but not to worry, both his parents and my mom were home in case if he needed something. When I left in the morning, I left a list of chores for him to do. It’s only fair that he has to experience what I went through for the six weeks that I was off with Emma. While I was at work, I received a few text messages. Some were innocent like “where is the bathroom cleaner”, but others were not “she is screaming her head off and won’t stop”. Apparently it was a rough morning for them. Emma didn’t want to be put down or else she would scream at the top of her lungs. But somehow Michael figured out what would work to calm Emma down and they survived the rest of the day.

When I got off work, I met Michael at the restaurant, Fridays, for dinner. He had a hard time getting Emma to calm down enough to get her in the car seat, but by the time she did she was worn out. I was so excited to see her when she got to the restaurant that I just had to take her out of the car seat. A lot of the waiters and waitresses stopped by to look at her because our waiter must have said something about her being a cute baby. What can I say, she takes after her mommy! It has been one long and stressful week and I’m glad it’s over!

One thing I am so proud of is the fact that we have Emma into a good routine at night. I’m trying to keep her awake till about 8:00 PM before giving her the last bottle before bedtime. She usually is pretty good about staying up with us to do tummy time, listen to us talk to her, or just even going on a walk around the neighborhood. After whatever activity we do, Michael or I follow it by changing Emma’s diaper, getting her pajamas on, and getting the bottle ready. After she eats and is relaxing, we read a few books to her and before you know it, she is out like a light. It’s so precious carrying her upstairs and putting her into her bed. She is such a big girl already! I just love the nighttime bond we have with her. Even if we only get to see her a couple hours a day during the week right now, it’s the best time we get to spend with our little one! I can’t believe in seven weeks all that she is able to do; the time is flying by so fast that I can’t wait to see what she will experience next.

Last Stop

I wanted to go to a store before our Father's Day dinner, but when we got to the store it had already closed. So we went to the restaurant (The Pasta House) and our wait was going to be about 5 minutes while they cleared off some tables. We were about 45 minutes before everyone else was to arrive so we decided to wait. We went to a store down the road. Shortly after Michael’s parents went to the restaurant where the wait was now 45 minutes! I kid you not, it was no more than a few minutes after we left that they had gotten to the restaurant and there was already that long of a wait.


First time sitting at a bar.


Visiting with Grandpa.


Daddy and his baby girl


How precious! Daddy and his little girl holding hands.

After we ate dinner with Michael’s parents and brother and his family, we took some pictures outside. They turned out great! We then headed home to get some much needed rest after an eventful weekend. I just love staying busy and now that Emma is finally here, we are always busy.


Emma and Grandpa


Emma with her daddy and Grandpa


Emma and Daddy


The dads and their kids.


Precious little lady


Our family


Ready to go home.

Another Stop On Father's Day

After rushing around the house to get ready to go to my grandparent’s house, we got in the car and headed over there. As it turned out, everyone had arrived not too long before we got there. We had a nice lunch and got to spend some time visiting with Aunt Kathy and the family. We even had a little bit of time to play Catch Phrase. It was fun, but nothing like how it is when we play with dad’s side of the family. Michael was enjoying watching the Cardinals game.


Daddy resting on the couch.


What a ham!


Casey with Emma


Aunt Kathy with Emma

Happy 1st Father's Day Michael!

Michael and I got up this morning around 6:00 AM with Emma. When we woke up he got his Father’s Day gift; this was extra special since it was his first Father's Day. I made a book at Shutterfly’s website full of pictures of Michael and Emma. I also made cards with pictures of Emma for her daddy and her grandpas. I thought for sure Michael was going to cry when he saw it, but he didn’t, not even a tear. I forgot to give Michael a first father’s day card so I wrote a message on the outside of an envelope for him. It was nothing special, but it was something.


The book and cards for father's day.

We were awake till close to 8:00 AM, but then decided to take a nap before heading to church. We were just going to lay down for about 10 minutes, but it turned out to be about an hour and a half. We had missed both services at church and there was no way we were going to make it to the noon mass since we were heading over to my grandparent’s house. Even though we didn’t do anything this morning, it was still great to just spend time together, all three of us. When we laid down for our nap, Emma was between us. It was so precious when I woke up and saw my two favorite people in the whole wide world lying next to me! I wish it could stay like this all the time!


Daddy and his little girl sleeping.


All three girls waiting for dad to come back to bed.


Emma loves sleeping in our bed.


Kisses for daddy on his special day.


Ready to go for the day.

Another Adventure - The Science Center

After the zoo, mommy, daddy, Grandma and Emma went to a restaurant, Bellacino’s, to eat lunch before meeting Grandpa and the rest of his family from out of town (Michigan).


Eating lunch with daddy.

We met them at this cool place they kept calling the Science Center. After being introduced to this family, we went to look at the dinosaurs. We got separated from the family, but then found out that they just decided to go to the zoo instead. At this point Uncle Chris, Aunt Jessica, and my cousins, Isabella and Chase, were coming down so we waited around to see them. We ended up staying a couple hours, but wanted to head home since we were going out tonight to celebrate our one year anniversary.


Looking at the lights with Grandma.


Michael watching people speed by on Highway 40.


Our family


Mommy and her baby girl


What a cutie pie!


Emma catching a nap on Grandpa.


Chase met his match!


Isabella showing Grandpa the books.


Isabella reading with Grandma.


Daddy and Emma are shocked by each other's faces.


Michael and I after our anniversary dinner at Stoney River.

Emma's First Trip To The Zoo

Michael and I woke up to the tornado sirens going off; Emma didn’t even budge. This girl can literally sleep through anything. We were questioning even going since it was raining as we were leaving the house, but as we looked to the west it was clearing up. We figured by the time we got to the zoo, we may only have to wait a little bit for the rain to pass. And sure enough, we waited about 5 minutes for Michael's mom to get there and it was slowing down. And the rest of the morning was beautiful!


Emma's outfits for the day; and she wore them all!

We got to the zoo early enough to do some of the free stuff. For one hour before the zoo opens, guests can go into the children’s zoo, ride the carousel, or go into Caribbean cove to pet the sting rays and sharks. We only had enough time to do one thing so we went to pet the animals. That was a weird feeling, all slippery and slimy.


Daddy and Grandma petting the animals.


Emma wasn't too interested in petting the sting rays and sharks.

After that we walked around the entire zoo; spending about three hours total there. The majority of the time, Emma was sleeping, except when she woke up to eat. Emma wore her giraffe dress and I wanted to get a picture with the giraffes in the background, well unfortunately they weren’t outside today. Maybe another day Emma!


Daddy pushing Emma around the hippos.


Trying to find those giraffes, especially since mommy made me wear my giraffe dress. Maybe next time we will see them.


Oh My! It's like a meat locker in here! We went into the puffin and pengiun house.


Emma enjoying a snack at the zoo.

Look at all these baby animals we saw:

It's Bambi!


A zebra, like my second outfit.


A kangaroo. This one we took for Uncle Scott who got to see many kangaroos in Australia.


Look at this silly monkey, oh wait...it's my dad!


And a baby elephant.


Kisses from Grandma


Emma catching some zzz's before going to eat lunch.

Emma's Rich Now (Or So She Thinks)

Michael took a half day today since it was my last "work" day being at home. My mom came out after she got off work to visit with me and Emma. While we were waiting for Michael, there were terrible thunderstorms coming through. The dogs were getting so scared and Emma didn’t even fuss or wake up from her nap for that matter. When Michael got home, we went to get his license renewed, went to lunch at Crazy Bowls and Wraps then headed to the bank. We opened up a savings account for Emma. She won’t be able to access it until she turns 18 or unless Michael or myself deposits or withdrawals anything for her. We took her Baptism money and got a little start. Hey, any money will help better prepare her for the future.

Daddy's Birthday

Today is Michael’s 24th birthday! We had terrible storms last night that actually woke both of us up around 3:30. Surprisingly, the storms didn’t wake Emma up at all. I put up all the signs I made for Michael and was going to prepare him breakfast, but it was still an hour before he had to get up for work. So I decided against making it at that time. I thought I would just lay in bed and wake up in a little bit to make it, but to my surprise I was out cold. I was so tired that I didn’t even hear the alarm go off. For some strange reason I woke up and it’s a good thing I did or else Michael would have been really late for work. I had baked brownies yesterday so as Michael was getting ready, I added the candles in to sing happy birthday to him. Then he was off to work till lunch time.


Daddy's birthday cards


All of daddy's birthday signs


The yummy brownies


Daddy blowing out the candles


The sign Emma made for her daddy.


The signs inside daddy's car.


More signs


Daddy getting ready to leave for work.

Emma was taking her nap up until the point I had to wake her up to give her a bath. She was also hungry so I had to feed her before we could leave to get Michael for his birthday lunch. Let’s just say it took longer than I thought to do this because we ended up picking up Michael about 20 minutes later than I planned on. We were going to go to this one restaurant downtown, but when we got there the hostess said we couldn’t stay there since it was a smoking environment and we had a baby. We ended up going to another restaurant nearby and sitting outside to eat lunch. I was surprised that Michael wanted to do that, but there was a nice breeze that helped keep it cooler.


Emma all rested up for daddy's big day!


Emma sitting at the table for daddy's birthday lunch.


Daddy and Emma at lunch.

After lunch, Emma and I went home to take a three hour nap. It was much needed for the both of us. When Michael got home from work, he feed Emma and got her ready to go to the Olive Garden for dinner. We got there around 6:00 PM and had a bit of a wait, but once we were finished and walking to the cars, we noticed how much more crowded it was at that time. It’s a good thing we went when we did. Throughout the dinner, Emma just kept watching the people walk by. I’m glad she didn’t get fussy and need to be held so that Michael and I could enjoy our dinner. When we got home, Michael watched the last game for the Stanely Cup while I took care of Emma. She went down to sleep pretty easy tonight; let’s just hope she stays asleep.


Dadddy feeding Emma before heading to dinner.


Emma getting kisses from the birthday boy!