Smiles!

Emma Ray smiled at me this morning. A nice cute grin -2 or 3 of them in a row! Carina and I crowed and then she got a really confused expression on her face as to what that Noise was! But hey, we have smiles!

3 weeks old!

Grandma Aldrich came over last week and visited us.
It was great to have her around and it gave her the time to get to know little Emma.
She played lots with the kids (especially playing UNO with Jared!) and provided a lot of help. She is a great dish fairy!

Grandma and little Emma

Emma has definitely become a part of our lives! She is a cute girl and has definate opinions.
Emma loves her Mama and wants to be held all the time. We are still working on sleeping in our crib. Mostly she sleeps in our arms. We can usually get her down for 1 nap a day in her crib. Nightime sleep is still a work in progress!

Kathleen and Emma

Snuggling on the couch!

I love this expression!

Emma sticking out her tongue

Emma right before church last Sunday. We stuck the bow on her head with Elmers.

The kids really wanted me to use the honey option...

We are thrilled with our little girl!

Emma Ray

Here are some pictures taken of Emma with us this first week of life.

My redheads, Peter and Emma

Carina, Emma, and Annie

Annie and Emma

Dad's favorite position with his babies!

James, Jared, and Emma

Mama, Emma, and James

Jared, Emma, and Peter

Emma and Peter

Kathleen and Emma

Carina and Emma

Emma

Emma

David and Emma

Emma!

It's been a fun first week!
When I came home from the hospital, Emma needed nursing, so I sat down and nursed her.
Jared after watching the procedure for a minute, announced
that I have a bottle attached to my tummy!

Emma is in a fair way of being loved too much! Her brothers and sisters all insist on having several turns each day with her.

Emma is a good baby, she nurses well. She just won't sleep in her crib. She wants to held all day and all night long. This is making life fun! It hasn't been a problem since the kids were out of school due to the big ice/snow storm we had, but they are back in school now and I am relearning how to do things without having hands available!

We love our little Emma!

A new arrival!

Our 8th child, Emma Ray Aldrich arrived on January 6, 2010 at 5:53 am.
She weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. and was 18 1/4 inches long.
Emma has red hair and has already wrapped everyone around her tiny fingers!

Emma Ray Aldrich

Mama showing off Emma's red hair!

Mama and Emma

Emma's delivery was scary for us. We were being induced to help control the delivery, so we checked into the hospital on the night of January 5. The doctor started me on cervidil, and I started having contractions around 11 pm. I stayed dilated at 2 cm all night long having really strong contractions that did nothing. I couldn't get an epidural since "I wasn't making any progress!" By 5 am, I was shaking horribly and hurting so badly, I finally agreed to take a narcotic for the pain.

It helped for a little while, but made me feel like I was on an old fashioned record that had a scratch on it that kept playing on PAIN! The room was spinning and then we would hit the scratch again (another contraction) I started screaming around 5:30 and the nurse finally checked me a few minutes later and discovered that I was now at a 9! So she hurried and called the doctor and tried to keep me from delivering before the doctor arrived. It didn't work! I delivered Emma naturally without the epidural and the nurses directing the delivery of Emma. The cord was around her neck and they were hurrying to clamp it and cut it off of her. They kept telling me not to push and I really tried my best, but my body was working on its own and she was born in a few minutes! One nurse worked on me and the other one took Emma over to the side and worked on her for 10 minutes before she cried. She was having trouble breathing. Her apgar was 3 but after they worked on her she improved to a 8. My doctor finally arrived and they let me deliver the placenta. I was so relieved to have Emma here safely!

We stayed in the hospital till the 7th than came home. We are so grateful to be home. Carina did a great job watching the kids for us while we were in the hospital. The other kids all helped out with their best behavior. Everyone loves our little Emma and we are thrilled she is part of our family!

Christmas Vacation

Our Christmas Holidays were lots of fun! We had Grandma and Grandpa over for Christmas and enjoyed our time with them. We also had a chance to catch up on some projects--school and otherwise!

Mama (picture taken by David with his new camera!)

Annie on her Christmas bike!

Jared on his Christmas bike!

Kathleen bike riding!

Peter riding his Christmas scooter!

Carina downloading songs onto her new MP3 player

Dad and Grandad playing golf on the Wii!

David and Peter building their new legos

Grandma and Annie having a tea party!

Grandma and Granddad Aldrich!

James playing with his new airport!

Jared playing with his legos!

Some of the projects we did!

David and this year's science fair project.
He dropped eggs in different wrappings to see which one would not crack!
It was lots of fun!

We also set up a corner of my room for the baby!

December Summary!

Well December was such a busy month! We felt like we had no time to breathe! It was one activity after the other. So now that the kids are on holiday from school, I have time to update the blog!

Kids decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving!

Kathleen performing in her Christmas Chorus play!Kathleen celebrating her 11th birthday with a birthday party at home!

Annie's birthday cupcakes. I melted chocolate chips and made the designs and sprinkled them with sugar. When they were cooled, we put them on the cupcakes. Annie wanted butterfly cupcakes!

Annie and Kathleen birthday girls!

David in his first performance, "A Christmas Wizard of Oz" He was Woody!

Annie's reading class put on a Christmas play also!

Carina had her Christmas concert for Chorus and a fun Christmas Ball she attended!

So there you have it! A busy month so far!