Emma Jewel Newsletter Vol. 19 (5/25/2004)

Miss Emma had another doctor's visit on the 21st.  She now weighs 7 lbs. 8 ozs.
and is 20 and 1/2 inches long.  The doc said by adjusting her age by her
original due date she is average weight and length.  

Miss Emma has a red birthmark on the left side of her face.  It started out
as a salmon patch but has changed into a strawberry.  The doc said it would
probably go away by her fourth birthday.  For now, we are using it as a gage
for her anger.  If it is red, she's happy.  If it turns purple, she's mad.  :)

We've got smiles!  We've had two smiles.  I was lucky enough to be on the
receiving end of both of them.  Joseph almost got a picture.  But, it faded
too fast.  So far, she has been alloting them one a day.  I still don't think
she realizes the significance those smiles have for her mommy and daddy.  But,
we are so happy that we've seen them during waking moments.

She has also started clutching whoever is holding her.  That's been pretty
neat.  She is also spending more time interacting with us and making eye contact.

Her left eye sometimes doesn't agree with her right, though.  They don't always
travel in the same direction.  The doc said we could expect that up until
about 5-6 months.  

We talked to the doc about her spitting up.  Since I've cut her feedings shorter, 
sometimes she doesn't spit up any.  Other times, she is a little milk volcano.
The doc said if it continued to a problem she might prescribe her some Zantac.  
She suspects she will grow out of it, though.  Her spitting up hasn't interfered
with her weight gain and growing.

We all went out to the pond yesterday a couple of times.  It was nice to get out.  
Miss Emma, when fussy, will quieting down when we go out.  I think all the sounds 
are very interesting to her.  

Silas has sort of met Emma.  We haven't done any formal introductions of her to
any of the animals around here.  We just have her with us when we are around them.  
But, when Silas is inside and Miss Emma cries, Silas has a small fit.  He starts
crying, too, and most often is ready to go outside.  

We've started using some of our cloth diapers.  Up until now, she's been too 
small to fit in the diapers we got so we've only used disposables.  But, now
we are using a combination.  I only have a few that are small enough to fit her
at this stage, but as she gets bigger, we've got plenty of larger cloth ones to
use.

We're still outgrowing outfits.  It is quite amazing when you go to put on an 
outfit and realize it doesn't fit anymore.  One of my favorite things to put
on her is some shirts given to us by John and Peggy.  We call them her "puppy
shirts" because they have little puppies on them and we are just a very clever
family.  They look more like gowns on her right now, but she'll be able to 
wear them a long time because they will eventually turn into shirts.  ;)  

I'll go ahead and jinx it and say that we've had three nights where we've 
mostly slept.  Miss Emma still gets much more fussy as the evening progresses.
The later it is, the less patience she has for everything.  But, our inconsolable
crying spells are getting shorter, much to everyone's delight.

Miss Emma is still picking her head up and looking around when on her stomach.  
She's getting better and better at it.  We try to give her lots of opportunities
to exercise those neck muscles.  When we were coming back from the pond 
yesterday, Joseph was toting her against his shoulder.  I was walking behind her 
and him and she was holding her head up almost the entire time looking around.

I'm sure we'll have lots more exciting news with each upcoming issue.  :)

Momma Kay