weekends.

Well friday morning, I tried to get on blogger and it kept on saying that there was a service error. same thing saturday. and sunday. and this morning. So finally I got fed up and started trying different things, and so I figured out I can get on blogger on internet explorer but not on firefox. I ALWAYS use firefox. So yeah, that's why i've been so absent! But I started work yesterday! I LOVE it! It's super easy, I just REALLYYYYY miss emerson. I feel like I'm missing everything! But I also worked today. But don't have to work again until friday!I'm a cashier though! Yesterday, when I got home from work, I was in the floor playing with emerson and she took her first step! Well, it was her standing in front of me and she took a step and then fell on top of me! haha. She did that 3 times yesterday! And then once today when my mom was watching her while I was at work! Then today, I was getting Emerson out of the car and she was making funny faces and opening her mouth really wide, and she has a tooth! I had no clue! It's the top right tooth! it's barely poked out but it's out! Then I was buckling her in her car seat and noticed that the bottom right is barely poked thru! Less than the top! So within the past week she's took her first steps and cut her first 2 teeth! It's crazy how much she's grown up! We're hoping to be moving to the apartment by Dec. 1st! That's a month away! It's small, but perfect for us! The only bad part is that the bedroom is a very akward shaped room, so we're really not sure how we're gonna fit the crib and our bed, but we'll make it work! The appliances are all new, and the living room is pretty big! the closet is huge! But the bathroom doesn't have a door, just like a curtain, which i'm dreading. Because I really don't want to be in bed, and then hunter start stinking up the room ( TMI) haha. But i'm so excited! My schedule for next semester, we've been registering this past week, has been hectic! It's looking like i'm going to have to go Mon-Thur, which sucks, because I hate wasting gas, and finding a baby sitter will deffinately be harder if we don't get into the program (which we still don't know about). So we're just hoping everything is going to work out!

pumpkin patch!

So monday we drove down to Ellijay and went to burts farm a little farm/pumpkin patch! It was so much fun and emerson loved it, we are definitely going to make it a tradition to go every year!

We let her pick out a pumpkin, but these were the only ones small enough for her tiny hands to hold!

She tried to eat the mulch!

She was much more interested in the mulch than the pumpkins!

On the hay ride! These were fake talking pumpkins and she loved them!

On the hay ride, she chewed on the hay the entire time!

And, I realize there are no pictures of me, I promise I was there! But I did most of the picture taking and when I got hunter to take some of me, they were all horrible! It makes me sad. But I'm trying to teach hunter to take better pictures! lol It was a lot of fun though! I'm so excited for her first halloween!

homecoming and a csection!

Well tonight was homecoming, i'll put pictures of another day! My sister didn't win but she still looked beautiful! We opted out of riding in her car because emerson had a runny nose and the wind was pretty bad!
But my aunt is 37 weeks pregnant! and she walked out of the stadium tonight and her water broke! Yepp! It was a shock! So since she had a csection with her 3 year old she will be having one anytime now. I really hate she didn't listen to me or even do any research herself about VBAC's . I know what she's about to go thru and the pain. and ugh, c sections really make me sick to my stomach. :/ But i am excited to meet my new cousin (its a boy) and i'm glad emerson is getting a little play mate!

9 month check up!

weight: 19 lbs 6 oz

height: 28 1/4 inches

diaper size: 3

clothes size: mostly 12 months, still a few 9 months, and even a few 18 months!

eating habits: we're getting there, we've been dealing with some food sensitivities, constipation, and switching formula. But for the most part she'll eat  like this:
7 am - 2 jars of fruit, a bowl of oat meal.
10 am - 4 oz bottle
12:30 pm - 2 jars of veggies, and some puffs or gerber cookies, and 3 oz of prune juice
3pm- 4 oz bottle
6pm - 1 jar of veggies, 1 jar of fruit, and bits and pieces of what ever vegetable we're having for dinner, she loves eating REAL green beans and peas! She also enjoys asparagus!

sleeping habits: well, i'll explain more later, but the past month she slept an average of 3 hours a night, it's been a rough month, but we finally figured out why!

movement: she's standing up on her own! and she'll walk if she's pushing something! she likes to push the foot stool around the living room!

favorite toys: her leap frog music table, the vtech crawl ball, and my aunt bought her this new little doll this month it's eyes close when you lay it down and emerson thinks it's hilarious! it's also got a paci attached to it and emerson just chews on it!

teeth count:0! but you can feel 2 on the very button but they're still under the gums.



Doctors appointment: Actually it went pretty well! She completely understood why we chose not to give emerson a flu shot, and just told us that if we ever wanted to get her one just bring her in. Emerson's belly button has been sticking out really far since she had a bad reaction to sweet potatoes and her stomach swelled, so I asked the doc about it and she said that emerson had an umbilical hernia. She said that it usually will go away between 2-3 years but if it hasn't gone away by 3 years they will have to surgically remove it. So we're just hoping that it will go away on its own, and from what i've read online most of them do! Also, emerson has had bad constipation issues where she will cry and scream only a tiny turd (tmi) will come out, so she gave us a prescription and it's helping so far, and she will be on this medicine for 3 months and we will try to take her off of it to see if her bowels have matured any. She also said she thinks emerson is dehydrated and that could be a part of it, so we're having to give emerson prune juice. I've never been a fan of juice for babies so I really didn't want to give her any, but i want emerson to get better, and if she needs help then we will get it for her. And to the sleeping! While the doctor checked emerson's ears and nose, she realized she has a double ear infection. Emerson had an ear infection last month had 10 days of antibiotics, and they didn't work. So for the past month it's just gotten worse and worse and we had no clue. But that is definitely why she hasn't slept at ALL! But they gave her a different kind of antibiotics and she goes back in 2 weeks just to check to make sure it went away. Oh and one question for you girls, what sippy cups do you suggest? We've tried NUK, NUBY, and GERBER. She will only drink a little bit. I refuse to put juice in her bottle so what sippy would yall suggest trying?

I wanted to wait, but!

I've got a job interview thursday! :) At toys r us!  It's just seasonal, but it'll give us some cash until I find a real job! It would be 5:30pm - close on weekdays (right now close is 9, but eventually will get later because of the holidays). Which is awesome because my mom usually gets off at 4:30 and my dad at 4, so they would be able to keep her on the days hunter also works nights. So needless to say I'm excited! But I was going to wait to share this all tonight, because we're going to look at the apartment at 6:30! If we like it, we will probably sign the lease! So I'll keep you updated! I'm just so excited! Also, we've been scheduling our schedules for spring this week at school, it's been super stressful, but i've almost got mine all worked out and it looks like i'll be going tues, weds, and thurs again in the spring! It also looks like we may be getting the program that will pay for emerson's daycare, but i'm not going to get my hopes up.

Our busy Monday!

We actually have a busy day tommarow! And i'm actually excited! I hardly ever have plans because of school!

But at 8 am the schedule drops so we can sign up for classes for next semester! I've already got most of what I want picked out, I just have to get on the internet at 8 am to add them!

Then right after that, pretty much as soon as possible, we have to go to the health department to get new WIC. And since the line is always outrageous, I like to get their as early as I can.

Then if we get out of their early enough, It's drop off day at the duck duck goose consignment sale in east ridge. So I'm putting about 50 items in the sale, mostly all of emerson's 0-9 month clothes (the nicer ones), because they've just been sitting in boxes. I've tried putting them on the online yard sales and craigslist and such, but everyone says they want to meet and end up bailing, it really just isn't worth the hassle. So I decided to try out the consignment sales!

Then at 12:50, Emerson has her 9 month check up! I'm kinda nervous for it, because I know the doctor(well, nurse practitioner) is going to push me to let Emerson have a flu shot. Which me and hunter both agree, we really do not see a point in them. So i'm just nervous the doc will jump down my throat and such. But i'm so excited to see what she weighs and how tall she is!

If we don't get out of WIC soon enough, we'll go drop of the clothes at the consignment sale afterward! So it's a pretty busy day! but i'm so excited!

Christmas Time!

And my shopping is (almost) done! Emerson's Mimi took her to the apple orchards in Ellijay today, so me and hunter went and finished most of emerson's christmas! Here's what she's getting!

this push and go panda! I got it on clearance for $4!

This is her BIG item! It was a splurge but we had some gift cards we put to it!

laugh and learn puppy I got on sale a few months back

Disney Princess Ride On, we got at a yard sale and it's the previous version, but from the look of this picture hers actually has more buttons and such!

Those were all the pictures I could find online, since a lot of her stuff was from consignment sales and stuff. But she's also getting

Peek A Blocks, there's 26 of them, and it's the alphabet and inside each on is an object that starts with the letter (A = apple, H= Horse).

Some books.

A little flip over puzzle.

A few outfits from carters I got on clearance for like $4 a piece!

She's also got a little baby doll

And this little elephant, which is basically a ball but it sings and vibrates.

Some baby crayons for her stocking!

That's all we've gotten so far, but all we're planning to get is some stocking stuffers.
I plan to get her  some more pacis, and some forks, and plates, and more sippy cups. All of this stuff sometimes goes buy 1 get 1 free and babies r us, so i'm basically just waiting for a good sale!

It feels good to have it all finished and ready! Now I'm just waiting for thanksgiving so we can put up our tree and I can wrap presents!!!

Where we are.

It's been a long time since I 'really' updated. Well here's how life is going...BUSY. The semester is about 1/2 way over and I'm making all A's(barely)! Well, me and hunter are back together. It's a longgggg story and I really want to leave it off the blog. But the jest of it, is that he really just doesn't know how to put his priorities on top of that, add to that 16 credit hours of school, and 35 hrs of work a week. So we are going to counseling, and things are slowly getting better. We've found an apartment, and will be looking at it some time next week. So hopefully we will be moved in by November! Which, I know it sounds a little drastic, because of everything that has happened lately, but we had to. My mom can't afford the house, so she's going to have to move into an apartment, and 5 people in a 2-3 bedroom apartment will just not work. So we got a really good deal with a garage apartment from a lady my mom works with it's $400 a month, which already includes utilities! So we are definitely taking the offer up, because right now we just can't afford a 'normal' apartment. We're definitely excited, but this means I will have to work at least 3 days a week, so I'm in the search of a job. Luckily, I had enough pell grant to last us about 6 months, in the case I don't find a job. But i've been putting in applications! So we're hoping! Emerson is doing great and almost walking! She has her 9 month check up Monday, so I will post on it then! :D

HOMECOMING.

Well my sister is on the homecoming court at ringgold this year! So they always do a parade, and normally the girls have some one to ride in the passenger seat of their convertiible. Well, my sister wants Emerson to ride with her. I'm not sure how I feel about it. We would have 3 options.

1. I would have to ride and hold her the whole time.

2. She would have to be rear facing in a car seat.

3. She would have to forward face in a car seat.

But, There is NO way a rear facing cars seat will fit in the seat of a convertible. Emerson isn't big enough to sit forward facing, and no one would be there if she needed help.

So our only choice would be her riding in my lap. Or not ride at all. I'm leaning to not riding at all, but my sister really wants us to. But here's the thing we'll be going 5 mph. But i'm still very uneasy about it. What would you do? Have you allowed your kids to be in a parade?

First Impressions: Saftey 1st Guide 65 Convertible

It came! We ended up getting the Safety 1st Guide 65 Convertible Car Seat for our 'spare'! Well mainly for hunter's car! So I figured I'd do a little review from my first thoughts on in! And in a few weeks after it's been used in the car I'll do another review!

We ended up buying it online at Walmart.com! From what I've found they sale it on Amazon for $107, Babies R Us for $98 and Walmart for $78. Though, the one at walmart is only the 'Sport' Version.

From what I can tell the only difference int he original and sport version is that the original comes with an infant body support, the sport one doesn't.

It's not sold in stores at babies r us, so you can't go there to see it 'in person' but it is sold at some walmarts. We have about 5 walmarts around here and within the past few weeks I've only seen one that carries it, the Laffeyette one by the way. Which is right by my school, so one day on my lunch break I went to check them out. They had them in two colors, black and grey, and black and hot pink.In my opinion the pink was extremely overwhelming and bright. And since this was for hunter's car we went with the black and grey. I ordered it online, free shipping.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Safety-1st-Guide-65-Sport-Convertible-Car-Seat-Athens/19514414

^ there's the link to it!

Well my first impressions: (remember it hasn't been installed yet, so this is just my opinions on looking at it inside the house)

I loved how compact it was! It will definitely fit in small cars!

The head support moves up and down, even past the shell height!

To give you a reference Emerson, is 8 1/2 months, 27 inches and about 19 lbs!

The crotch buckle has 3 slots, for rear facing you have to use it on either 1 or 2, (closest to the baby). But it doesn't matter for forward facing. Emerson's fits best on slot 2. But none of our other car seats have this feature so I was definitely surprised!

One con I did see was that this car seat is that is supposed to be usable from 5-65 lbs. But there is no way a newborn would be tall enough for the straps to be at or below the shoulders for rear facing. The straps would definitely be above the shoulders for a newborn, so i would not recommend this seat for baby's first seat. There are 5 strap heights and emerson is on the very lowest.

Because we have older cars, neither one of our cars have latch capabilities. So in order to use the seat with a seat-belt you have to store the latches in different places. This would be very confusing and probably get very misused with careless parents who don't read the manuals. But in storing this I learned that it will be very hard to install this seat rear facing with a seat belt, the spot where you would insert the seat belt is very small and if you had a big arm it would be very difficult to install. Because of this, I would not recommend this seat if you will need to move it around from car to car a lot.

Another thing I noticed, was the latch system. We use the latch system when Emerson's car seats are in my moms 2009 Accord. But i did notice that this car seats latch system is a lot easier to use than the Graco My Ride 65's. That being said, they are definitely harder to use than the Chicco Keyfit's Base's latch system, which I have to give it to Chicco they have the worlds easiest latch system!

Also, on this car seat, the cover is definitely well padded! And I think the bottom/leg part of the seat is actually more padded than our Graco MyRide 65.

And there isn't a level ball on this seat, this is the first seat we've owned without one, so i feel like it will be a lot harder to tell if it is truly level. 

Another con is that this seat has a height limit to rear facing, while our Graco MyRide 65. This seat will only rear face until 40". While the MyRide will until the head is 1 inch below the shell.

The chest clip seems flimsy to me, and is definitely thinner(cheaper) than the Graco and Chicco chest clips. This seat also didn't come with Shoulder Pads/covers which honestly I think it makes it easier to ensure the harness is tight enough!

Sorry it's sideways! But she loves it!

All in all I think i'm going to love this seat! Though I would not recommend it for a newborn, it will definitely be the seat I suggest to people after their babies out grow the infant bucket style seat!