Happy Birthday to me...

Yes, it's my birthday and we just got back from dinner out at our favorite restaurant, Cafe Asia. We invited Scott, Dave's brother, ate lots of yummy sushi and as promised I am now sitting down to post more pictures of Miss Emma. I've got tons of new pictures so you're all in for a real treat. I just can't stop, she's too cute not to capture on film!

We started the day with a heart melting moment: daddy and Emma asleep in the big bed:

I just think it's the cutest thing ever! What a doll! And for daddy to be all snuggled up next to her, what a vision! If you're a mom I'm sure you appreciate moments like these captured on camera.


Here's mommy and Emma tonight after dinner:


I say this often, but she is growing right before our eyes. I can hardly believe how big she is and each day something new happens that makes us so proud to be her mommy and daddy. Like Friday, she was having belly time with Dave on our bed and she started leaning to one side. Next thing we knew, she was on her back with streams of tears running down her face. She was terrified at what she had done, but we just smiled. Our wee one had just rolled herself over. Today we tried again and if a still picture can do it justice, this is Emma rolling herself over again:
She's on her Rainforest play mat, which she loves. She's really taken to looking at all the animals and blinking lights. Cooper loves to get right down there with her sometimes and together they may catch an episode or two of Oprah:

Yes, they are both looking at the TV, which is to the left in that picture. How cute is that!!!!

We have tummy time every day now and Emma is doing really well at keeping her head up. She's so proud of herself.


It's pretty exhausting on your tummy , so, she relaxes on her mini Bobby afterward and lets out a few good smiles...

We had a bath this morning, which was much needed after she peed on herself :) She really likes baths now, but getting dressed afterward is way more fun!


Grammy has been a big help to us and she's especially good at getting all the burps out, thanks Grammy!


After a good burping we're back to smiling again!


And, last but not least, here's Miss Emma in her new vibrating rocker that Uncle Scott gave her. She just loves it!

Well, I'm off for some quality family time. Daddy and Emma are patiently waiting for me while I caught you all up on her toothless grins and daily activities. It's been the most wonderful birthday and I am so very lucky to get to share it with my husband and precious baby girl.

A new addition to the family

Hi there. Something was in the water last May in my family because not only were we blessed with Emma, but now there's another little dumpling. Welcome Avery Grace, my cousin Scott and Jen's new baby girl. She was born March 28 at 1:35 am

Jen and Scott came to visit us here in DC for New Years, the second year in a row for Scott. Jen and I sat back sipping Grenadine (who's idea was that anyway?) as the boys wallowed in their Guinness (or whatever the heck they were drinking). Things are surely going to change this year! In any case, congrats to Scott and Jen - we can't wait to meet little Avery!

Emma is growing so fast I can't keep up with her. She's now holding her head up during tummy time which is right up there on the cuteness scale with her smiles. She's so confident and grins from ear to ear when she makes eye contact. I just have to take a picture, it's a heart melter.

We're growing out of our Newborn clothes, which makes me sad. I've tried to stretch them as long as I can but she's not digging not being able to stretch out. So, on they go to the storage bin for girl number two, if there ever is one. Dave is confident the next baby will be a boy - check back in a year or two and we'll see if he's right.

Dave's birthday is Saturday so everyone be sure to call and harass him - he'll be the big 33! I can't say much, mine is Tuesday but I'm only going to be 32, so there! Big plans for Saturday are to have some friends over for a BBQ. It'll be a tight house but fun nonetheless. It's really gotten us motivated too, which is great - we have new sod in the front yard and the cabinets are screwed in in the kitchen! Go Dave! Now I just need to hire a maid to clean the house before then and we'll be all set!!!!

Happy belated Easter!

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Dave, Emma, Cooper and I went down to Grammy and Grandaddy's house "aka Camp Grammy's" for a few days. Aunt Su, cousin Katie, cousin BethAnne and Uncle Scott were there too. Aunt Su loved on Emma almost all day on Sunday which allowed me to have some free time, and much needed time at that!


When the girls arrived Beth Anne went right for her favorite place, in Granddaddy's lap. Her and Bill had a nice long conversation about how he would be more handsome if he had on a tie. Before we knew it Bill had gone upstairs and put on his most favoritest froggie tie. Notice that he's wearing a polo shirt!!!


Emma doted her new Easter outfit on Sunday. Just take a look at my little French bébé! I just laugh every time I look at this picture - it makes me think of the Sweedish Chef from the Muppets!!!!





She laughed the whole time I was taking pictures, just look at that precious face!!



Katie and Beth Anne had an Easter egg hunt in the front yard but couldn't help being goofy before hand.

Emma is growing like a weed and changes so much every day. She's so animated and laughs on cue which just makes me melt. Sometimes when I'm feeding her she'll pull away and look at me with her big blue eyes and just smile so big, even at 2 in the morning! As tired as I am and as bad as I want to go back to bed I just can't be upset with that face.

We're still breastfeeding and I'm proud to say that it's like second nature to me now. I am so glad I stuck with it through the hard time, it's so rewarding and I look forward to that time with her. Did I mention it also saves us like $25 a week!!! At the rate she goes through diapers I take every penny I can get!

Have a great week - more pictures to come!

My little baby

Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 weeks since I gave birth to my little munchkin. I have been really bad at posting, and I apologize, but I'll try my best to catch everyone up.

This Friday Emma will be 6 weeks old. She's been to the pediatrician 4 times already and goes again on my birthday, April 8. The first time was for a routine checkup, the second for a weight check up, the third for weight and belly button and the fourth for weight again. Emma was born weighing in at 6lbs 10oz. She went down to 6lb 4oz, up to 7lb 30z, up again to 7lb 8oz and at the last checkup weighed a whopping 8lbs 6oz! She gained 14 oz in 8 days!!!! The doctor was impressed and the nurse thought I had super boobs!

Breastfeeding is going great. I think I am on the home stretch as far as pain goes. It's still a bit uncomfortable, but starting to feel good at the same time. I really enjoy it now and love spending the down time with her just staring at her little face. It's tiresome, especially during the wee hours of the morning but so rewarding. I never thought I'd bond so closely with her during feedings, but I just soak it up and anjoy every minute of it now. I'm so relieved the pain has passed.

Emma is one of the best babies I have ever met. She rarely cries and most of the time lets out a little whimper when she wants something. People think she's so calm because we are, but hey, I'll take it however I can get it. We are truly blessed that she's so peaceful and quiet, I just hope the teenage years don't make up for it.

Emma loves to look at us and smile. At first I thought it was gas, but I assure you, my little 5 week old smiles from ear to ear in response to our dorky faces.. I've tried and tried to get it on camera and finally this past weekend I succeeded... just take a look at this darling! Grandma Harley (my stepmom) was talking to her as I stood there clicking away waiting for the perfect moment. About 1600 pictures later we have....


Sleeping is still pretty hard. She's on a good schedule, eating at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7... but at times she'll wake up with gas in the middle of the night which screws the whole thing up. Her little belly doesn't do well with gas and it takes forever to get her to burp sometimes. Some feedings last almost an hour because of it. I'm worse for the wear and Dave has his bad nights too. But, we're making it through anxiously waiting for the night she drops a feeding. I've been told that once they reach around 10lbs their bellies get bigger and can handle the longer sleep cycle. I guess that means super boobs better get to work!

We have had a few close friends and family come to visit but it's nearing the 6 week mark when we can take miss Emma to meet the masses. You all have been very patient and we really appreciate all of you waiting to meet her. Once we get back from Easter holiday in Fredericksburg we'll be ready to go! Be on the lookout for Dad and his Baby Bjorn and mom with her no-doz!

Cooper is doing very well. He's completely recovered and shows no signs of his needle injury. His fur is growing back nicely too. He just loves Emma and gets very concerned when she does fuss. I wonder what he'll be like if we ever have a screamer! He sniffs her and wants to lick her face constantly, but overall he listens well and does very well with her.

Dave's mom, aka Grammy, is going to be our nanny. We are so blessed to have her and cannot thank her enough for what she's giving us. I know you're reading this Barbara so know that we are forever in debt to you for giving us your time. We lead a pretty crazy life here with the business and your love, support and time has been our backbone. Without you I'd be in tears taking my precious little one to a sitter and am grateful that I can walk upstairs for a little cuddle time whenever I want. Thank you Barbara, for everything you are, give and do - we love you bunches.

Well, my time is up. Dave is waiting upstairs for me to finish so he can come work. He's been putting in a lot of overtime these days and as sad as I am that he's not cuddling on the couch with us I know he's working hard to help support us. (I love you honey and appreciate all you're doing for Emma and I).

I'll leave you with a few more pictures of my punkin. Enjoy!

this is her on her 5 week b-day:


Beth Anne meeting her for the first time:


Katie holding her for the first time:


Daddy playing with her tiny fingers:


Grandma Harley getting her to smile:


Just look at that face! I could eat her up!

Oh have we been busy!

I just feel terrible for not posting as often as I'm sure all of you would like but getting used to being a mom is taking a lot longer than I thought. Finding time to sit and write is VERY hard! Life was blissful after the first few days, but man, after two weeks of not sleeping bliss is far fetched.

Last I posted Emma was doing fairly well breastfeeding. Well, every day is different and I'll agree with my best friend Nikki that it's one of, if not the hardest thing I have ever done. I cry a lot and wonder if I'll ever feel normal and not want to scream when she latches on. Poor thing has no idea how much it hurts me, she just sits there and sucks away! I've been to three lactation consultants and finally feel confident that I am doing it right, it's just going to take time to heal I guess. The good news is she's gaining weight like a champ and the doctor's are very pleased with her progress.

We went to the pediatrician last week for her two week appointment and learned she's in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for length. Now if we could only get her in the 100th percentile for sleep we'd be good to go!

So about this thing we call sleep. I don't think I even know what it is anymore. Emma has her days and nights mixed up and I'm not very good at taking naps like I should. How can I when I have work to do, a house to clean and people to see and talk to! We're experimenting with her feedings and awake time so hopefully soon we'll see a few restful hours. I knew it was going to be bad but geez!

Big news... we actually went out to dinner last night! Emma was amazing and Dave and I were so happy to be out of the house. We went to Cafe Asia, our favorite restaurant. It was so yummy! I even had a martini! I know, but the small things are just so dang exciting!

Well miss fuss is acting like she's hungry again so I am going to post some recent pics and get outta here. I cant promise I'll post soon, but I sure am going to try!

She's here and beautiful!!!!

I bet you're wondering what took me so long. Well, mommyhood is pretty darn time consuming and finding just a few minutes to sit down and post has proven to be difficult. But, if I've learned anything in the last week it's to be patient and forgive yourself.

I promised the birth story so here goes...

We went in Friday morning (8th) for the induction at 7:30. By 8am my doctor administered Cervidel, which is a gel to help dialate the cervix. She also broke my water and started mechanical dialation, a bag of fluid placed above the cervix that pulls down and helps things move along. Contractions started almost immediately. They were 4 minutes apart and pretty strong. We walked the halls and tried to stay on top of them but it wasn't easy. Poor Dave, he didn't know what to do.

By 12:30 my doctor wanted to start Pitocin and break my water. I asked for the epidural but the doc said she didn't think my pain was enough. (yeah right!) She just so happened to come in between contractions!!!! I was not happy but couldn't really argue. By 4pm I was 4cm and 50% efaced. Contractions we about 2 minutes apart and my doc finally ordered the epi. Man what a relief, I thought I was going to die!

The next few hours I got to hang out with my family that drove in from Michigan. Little did I know that it was the lul before the storm. My doctor came in around 6 and checked me, I was 9cm and 100%, almost ready to push. The nurse told me I had had 8 contractions in a 10 minute period! She asked if I could feel down there and couldn't so they took me off the epidural - that's when it all started. Within minutes the drugs started wearing off and I was having contractions through the roof almost every minute! 15 minutes later I started to push, drug free!!!! I pushed for 2 hours and even after two shots of lidocain (sp?) I could feel everything! I gave up. I was so tired and just didn't have it in me anymore. My doctor said she would try the vacuum, but if it didn't work they'd have to do a c-section. At that point, I could have cared less, I was in so much pain it didn't matter and it didn't seem like she was coming out naturally, no matter what I did. So, out came the vacuum. 6 pushes later at 8:34pm miss Emma was born. She was 19" long and weighed 6lbs. 10oz. My doctor said that if she was a half pound bigger she wouldn't have been able to be born vaginally.

I am very thankful that I didn't have to have a c-section, but I do have a third degree tear and a sulcus, which I was told was an internal tear on the vaginal wall. I am still very sore, even after 7 days, and cannot wait to be able to walk normal again!!!!

Emma is a great baby. She rarely cries, only when she's cold or being probed by the doctor. She does have GERD (reflux) which makes her hiccup and sneeze all the time, but I'll take it over anything more serious.

She took to breastfeeding right away but I wasn't doing it right and now have cracked and bleeding nipples. Every time I nursed I felt like crying it hurt so bad. I finally went in to see a LC nurse this morning and let me tell you, it's a whole new ballgame now.

Nights are pretty good. The first night was HORRIBLE, but we expected it. She woke up every hour and we had a really tough time. The following two nights were awesome in comparison, feeding every three hours. The third night was bad also, cluster feeding every hour for 6 hours, but last night made up for it, she slept for 5 hours straight!!!! Dav and I couldn't help but check to see if she was breathing! I'm hoping tonight is as good, it felt amazing to wake up slightly rested!

I'll post more later, but time is a valuable commodity these days and I need some couch time. Just know we are totally in love and can't wait to share her with the world. We've been advised to keep visitors away for 6 weeks because of flu season and RSV so as much as we would love to introduce her to everyone we need to hold off. I hope you all understand.

Here are some pics of your beautiful baby girl, miss Emma St. Clair Simpson

It's my due date!!!!

Hi everyone! I wanted to post over the weekend but decided to wait until today to fill you all in on what's been going on.

First, Cooper had surgery and is recovering very well. He has a 4" incision on his neck and a drain to drain out all the fluid build up. He has to wear a sock-like bandage on his neck to hold the gauze in place and absolutely HATES it! He shakes his head and the bandage falls off and the tube just flops around, it's really annoying to have to put the dang thing back on every half hour or so. But, good news is, he gets the drain out tomorrow and will only have to wear an e-collar for another week. We were giving him pain medicine but he was acting really weird. We decided to stop giving it to him and so far so good. He sure is a trooper.


On to what you all are dying to know I'm sure... sorry but no Emma yet. Today is 40 weeks but the doctor says my cervix is still very tight and closed up. She's way too comfortable in there. So, we've scheduled to be induced this Friday at 7am if she doesn't show her little face before that. We're pretty excited... just can't believe we will have her here in a few short days.

We do have a concern that I will have to have a c-section. My doctor told me that if I don't start effacing or dialating that there is a 40% chance I will have to have a c-section. So, in order to speed things up she recommends lots of walks and 4 pills of Evening Primrose Oil per day. It's supposed to help move things along. Send some good vibes that this little girl starts making progress, I really don't want a c-section!

We had a pretty eventful weekend... we put in the cabinets!!! It's so much different in the kitchen now. We still don't have countertops on the new parts, but we're planning to do an ebony stained wood until we can afford more granite. We also still need to get the new microwave for over the stove but that will come in time. Dave is going to be working this week on the electrical, water line and duct work, he's not looking forward to it but it needs to be done and we're running out of time! Here are some pics...



And, here's the official 40 week picture, taken this morning. I've only gained 25.5 lbs and am soooooo excited about it! Hopefully they will fly off when I have her and start breastfeeding. :) Thanks mom for the good genes!


I'm feeling pretty good aside from having a hard time getting around. I have lots of pelvic pain and have been having some contractions. They haven't been bad but they do happen and it makes me feel like I have to pee every time. Getting through a tv show these days without a trip to the bathroom is quite difficult! I think on average I get up about 5 times per night too, so that's fun. And, I officially now only fit into three shirts and have taken to stealing clothes from Dave. It's a good thing I don't have to go out every day, I think I'd have to wear the same outfit over and over again!

Work is under control, finally, and I feel ready. After today it should be smooth sailing until Friday. Yay!

Well, I'll post later this week if there's any change, but maybe, just maybe, the next post will be with pictures of our new little girl!!! Send love and prayers out way! I can't wait to meet her!