I’m a little late in posting a 1-month update (shocker) but definitely wanted to get this up as soon as I could. I use these little updates as my form of baby book documentation. I hope to print them somewhere eventually too once I figure out the easiest way to do so. As for the chair; I considered doing her pictures somewhere else but decided to stick with how I did Drew’s monthly pictures. 

 So Emery….here’s what you were up to in month #1 of your life. I’ll admit that some of this has already changed as I’m typing this out on day 7 of your second month but I’ll keep those updates for next month.

 YOU….

• have blue eyes (will they stay??), light brown hair and two little dimples near the corners of your mouth (I think…it’s kind of hard to tell).
• have a nickel sized red strawberry birthmark in the center of your back.
• sleep great – during the day! The first half of the month, I woke you after 4 hours to eat at night but the second half of the month you woke me – and we certainly weren’t getting 4 hour stretches anymore.
• are a great eater, yet not an excellent burper. We work hard for that burp.
• don’t seem to care if you are swaddled or not. I’ve done both and the swaddle doesn’t seem to make a difference.
• do not use a pacifier even though we’ve tried to get you to do so during fussy times.
• love, love, love to be held.
• enjoy car rides and movement in general except for your swing (though I’m hoping that changes).
• enjoy naps on your tummy (with close by supervision of course). You nap so peacefully on your belly.
• do not like to be bathed.
• are super jumpy, just like your mommy.
• are very strong! Your grip, arm and leg strength are extremely impressive.
• had your first road trip to Cincinnati for Christmas and spent a couple days at each grandparents house.

Here’s a fun comparison of Emery and Drew both at one month. 

We celebrated a great Christmas in Cincinnati.  I wasn’t sure how it would go with a 3 week old baby but she (and I) did fine.  She slept most days and we both stayed up all night.  😉  Emery certainly wasn’t in any sort of routine by this point anyway so what was one more week? 

Before we left Nashville, Santa came to our house and brought a couple little things for Drew. 

Once in Cincy, we packed the days full.  The day before Christmas Eve, we went to Entertrainment Junction.  Drew and Hannah had a blast except….for the Santa visit. Drew isn’t a fan this year. 

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent’s house and Christmas day with Tim’s side.  Christmas Eve morning I tried getting Drew to take a picture with Emery.  I love the shot in the bottom right hand corner.  This is right when Hannah walked in the house.  Drew had been waiting for her to play and was so excited to jump out of the chair.  Poor Emery. 

Love. 

Christmas Eve….we had a huge yummy brunch, opened presents and then some downtime where the kids played/napped.  Later we went to mass (thank goodness for gold fish) and then back to my mom and dad’s for “Grandma’s” chicken noodle soup and snacks and appetizers. 

Christmas morning, we woke up and headed straight over to Greulich’s.  Somehow “straight over” still ended up getting us there around 11am.  Sheesh.  We had another huge yummy brunch followed by presents, relaxing and then an amazing Christmas dinner. 

Drew wasn’t really into opening his gifts this year.  I’m sure next year will be the year.  Funny moment though was when he was all smiles like this and came up to me and said “I eat paper”…and sure enough he was chewing away on what must have been yummy wrapping paper.  Weird kid. 

The day after Christmas, most of the Greulich girls stayed home and the guys and Grammy went to ____.  Drew had a blast.
We managed to fit in one more Christmas celebration after Christmas.  Here are all of the great grandkids who were in town on the Holtz side.  So many girls!

Emery’s first Christmas and picture with Santa.  I snagged this one from my dad.  Great picture Dad!  Emery didn’t make it out in public to see Santa this year so I’m glad this picture was taken. 

And just a few more of our days at home / Cincinnati.  Tim and I still refer to Cincy as “home”  when speaking but it is interesting since Nashville is the only “home” Drew and Emery know.  

 At the end of the week we (ok Tim) very strategically packed the car and we headed HOME. 

This certainly has been a December to remember.  The first couple of weeks were awesome.  I was obviously off of work but so was Tim.  We had a lot of time getting adjusted to adding Emery into our world.  It was actually a little too easy as Drew was still going to daycare in order to keep some order in his life and Emery…well…slept a lot.  What a huge difference it is in bringing home baby #2.  The third week of December was a doozy though.  Tim returned to work and Drew came down with a nasty virus that kept him home from daycare and extremely miserable for almost an entire week.  Tim only had two travel days but whew, those were tough days and nights.  Here are some pictures from our month leading up to Christmas. 

Sweet baby Emery

Our greatest gift came early.  🙂

Lots of snuggle time.  Drew originally was pretty nonchalant about having Emery home.  He didn’t really care one way or another but I believe that’s because he still had both Tim and I around.  The week Tim traveled and Drew was sick, things were quite a bit different. 

My attempts at getting a picture for our Christmas card.  Ha. 

Tis the season

There have been a few moments of sweetness from big brother. 

Sick, pitiful guy.  I felt horrible for him.  Darn daycare. 

I love this picture because it was absolutely not set up.  I happened to be sitting there with my camera and Drew came up and wanted to play with Emery.  Soon Drew, soon. 

Movie and pizza night – Home alone (and he was watching!)

Since Emery is so brand new, we did not venture out of the house much (or at all) to do holiday type activities, however it was without a doubt a December to remember.  And now on to Christmas and our trip home to Cincinnati…..

We are getting into the swing of things around here.  Here are  a handful of pictures from Emery’s first few days.

Heading home!

Big brother Drew holding his baby sister for the first time

Grandpa and Grammy Greulich

First (really bad) picture of our family of four

ahhhh….first glass of wine.  🙂

Mimi and Papa Oberrecht

Welcome to the world Emery!

Early Saturday morning on November 29^th, little Emery joined the world. Her birth was nowhere near as eventful as Drew’s however she still jumped into the world pretty quickly. For my own memory, I thought I’d “write” down her story.

I had a doctor’s appointment that Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, and was told I was having contractions every 5 minutes (I had a non-stress test). The tech told me that was not abnormal for 38 weeks and to “stay close to home” but that I’d still probably make it through the weekend. I really wasn’t feeling anything until I was told I was having contractions and then all of the sudden, I started feeling them.  So – I guess technically I was in labor the rest of that day. The contractions remained about 4-5 minutes apart and weren’t super painful, just uncomfortable.  I never really went through labor with Drew since he sort of flew into the world without any warning so I really wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t.  Regardless, I went home and went about the day. 

 It was black Friday and Carol and I (Tim’s parents were in town that entire week for Thanksgiving) decided to take Drew to the mall to buy a specific pair of shoes for him. We didn’t find the shoes and as we were in the mall, I was realizing that maybe that trip wasn’t the best idea. I had a weak moment as I really wanted to get the heck out of the mall and let Drew pick out new (ugly) tennis shoes (which I’ve since exchanged) and was very happy to be back home after that trip. The rest of the day we hung around the house. We ordered pizza for dinner, got the Christmas tree out and up and played with Drew, not realizing that very soon we’d be a family of 4. We went to bed around 11pm or so and instantly the contractions got a little bit worse. I did NOT want to go to the hospital in order to be told I was not in labor so I really wanted to be sure this was it. Around 12:30am or so, I decided we should go. Even though I didn’t want to be sent home, I also didn’t want to have a baby in the car (which after Drew’s birth probably could have happened) OR miss out on an epidural (which also happened with Drew).  I had no desire to go unmedicated again.  Heck no.

Heading to the hospital was the right decision as my painful contractions quickly turned into excruciating ones while also becoming much closer together. The hospital is about a mile or two from our house and we arrived right around 1am and Emery arrived at 2:43am. She probably could have been there sooner but I was going to do everything I could to get that epidural which finally I did (seriously are anesthesiologists really that busy?!?!) . Once the epidural was in place, she was here within 5 minutes or so. We obviously didn’t sleep that night but I still feel so lucky that both of my kids arrived within 90 minutes of being admitted to the hospital. That’s kind of cool and I appreciate that they didn’t make me labor all day/night in a hospital. The next day Carol and Jim came to visit and bring Drew to meet his little sister. He really could not have cared less about her though and only wanted to play with the hospital phone. It was certainly not the sweet visit I had hoped for but honestly, I didn’t really think it would be. We checked out Sunday morning and jumped back into the real world. Carol and Jim left that evening to head back to Cincinnati and then…..we were a family of four.

Introducing Emery Claire Greulich, born 11/29/14, weighing 6 lbs 4 oz and 18.5 inches long:

Happy October!  We visited Gentry’s Farm in Franklin, TN with the Browns for the second year in a row.  We enjoyed a yummy breakfast in downtown historic Franlin and then the pumpkin patch.  Lexie and Drew are such cute little friends.  They love playing together. 

This is the only picture I got at Drew’s school Fall Festival.  Our little Cincinnati Reds player. 

Drew thoroughy enjoyed painting his pumpkin while Tim worked on carving an Elmo pumpkin. 

Drew’s first time trick or treating.  We really didn’t know how this would go.  He had a horrible cold and was very irritable, not to mention it was freezing that night.  BUT – he pulled it together and hit up about 5 or so houses on our street.

Drew LOVED passing candy out.  After he trick or treated he had even more fun sitting on the porch yelling “Kids!  I have candy kids!”  He loved it.  It was so cold yet didn’t seem to faze him in the least.

We celebrated Drew’s second birthday…well, on his second birthday, waaaay back in September. I’m getting caught up here. Still hard to believe this little guy is two years old. We had a great weekend having Mimi, Papa, Grammy, Grandpa, Mom Mom and Sable in town.

Pretty sweet new ride from Grammy and Grandpa

Drew loves his lawn mower from Mom Mom and it gets great use indoors too.

Balance bike from Mimi and Papa.  He was just a hair too short to try it out but it will be perfect soon.

 Birthday dinner at Coco’s Italian Cafe. 

And then home for cake and ice cream

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast outside and more play time with new toys.  We’re so thankful all the grandparents came to Nashille to celebrate. 

Drew, happy second birthday. I think your mom wrote you a note on your first birthday so it’s your dad’s turn to write you a note on your second birthday.

It’s been a wild and crazy year. Your mom and I have seen you go from crawling to walking; to speaking single words to saying full sentences. It’s been fantastic to watch you physically develop and even more amazing to watch your personality blossom.

As I reflect back on the year, I can’t help but realize not only how much I have learned about you, but how much you have taught me about myself. Ultimately your Grandpa and Grammy taught me what it means to be a man, but your mom refined me and you challenged me to be better a Dad. I have so much to hopefully teach you as you grow up (what sports teams to root for and which ones not to) and if I teach you half as much as your Grandpa taught me you’ll be in good shape.

I am amazed at how much you have picked up in the last two weeks, yet alone a years time. You are an inquisitive and observant kid. Those traits will serve you well in the years ahead. You also have a stubborn streak like your Dad, which makes for some interesting battles of wills at time. I remember reading you your first Dr. Seuss book and now you are picking out which book you want to read and even reciting some of the lines. Pretty soon you will be reading the book to your Mom and me.

It’s been a great year 2 and your Mom and I are extremely proud of you and have loved every minute of this year. Happy birthday Drew. We are looking forward to many new memories this year.

Today our baby turns two. Drew, these days you test and challenge me, and by doing so you are teaching me how to be patient. You are becoming more and more independent each and every day and I hate and love that at the same time. I love your hugs and kisses and look forward to hearing “mommmyyyy….mommmyyyy….” every morning as you wake up. I want to keep you little but I also love watching you grow. More than anything, I feel so lucky to be your mom.

Happy 2nd Birthday Drew-Drew!

A pile of randomness from the last month….

A great weekend with Tara, Matt and Leece

Next of course was our summer vacation in Charleston

One horrible night from what only could have been a tooth coming through.  He was aggitated all evening and eventually crashed on me around 10pm. 

Lottttts of pjelly (peanut butter and jelly of course!) sandwiches.  Our awesome eater has become quite opinionated on his food choices.  We know it’s just a phase and for the record he doesn’t get every pjelly he demands. 😉

He looooves to drive.

“Swimming” each night before getting out of the tub

Random selfie Drew took

After a long week of food battles, he ate all the dinner I prepared (see pjelly comment) – so ice cream for dessert!

Big boy in his towel

He “cleans” with this drill…..a lot.  This particular day he chose to wear his sun/safety glasses too.

And of course Operation Nookie Removal was started and completed this past month!

September!  Birthday month for all three of us.  Someone’s turning two this weekend!!!!!!