We have arrived!

As of yesterday the Swain house is hooked up to the internet, yay! We have wanted to get it for a long time, and it seems unthinkable to most not to have it, but we never had to have it. Since we have recently paid off my car, PTL, we thought it would be a good investment so that we can keep up with family, church, and friends more easily and I(Sarah) can hopefully do some more couponing and save our family at least the money we are paying for internet.

All that to say, this blog will now be updated somewhat regularly and there will be many picture dumps with what Emma has been up to!

Projects

Since completing (well, almost) the projects I was working on for Emma's nursery, I have one large stack of sewing projects (mainly dresses) and 1 new hobby that I am attempting to work on in the coming weeks.

This is a picture of some of the fabrics, patterns, ribbons, etc. that are on my current sewing to do list. I have set aside 1 hour each week to work on these, so I am hoping that I can conquer this stack in the next 2 months - we shall see!

Secondly, I have become really interested in learning to decorate cookies. I am always coming up with new hobbies that I want to get into, but they are all pretty expensive, so I always end up deciding it is not worth it to spend the money. Decorating cookies will be relatively inexpensive since I have most of what I need on hand already. Taking the time to make them, however, will be the challenge. Here is a picture from "sweetopia" of some super cute owl cookies:

I'm sure mine will not look like, that but I am looking forward to trying something new!

Emma at 7 months

at 7 months Emma is doing so many new things so I wanted to document them on the blog:

-she has started doing the army crawl and can drag/roll herself across a room
-she smiles all the time now and loves to giggle an has even started squealing
-she babbled “mama” this month.
-she is eating stage 2 foods for 2-3 meals a day, and nurses about 5 times a day.
-most nights she sleeps between 10-12 hours with 2-3 naps every day
-she is wearing 6 month clothing, although she is long and skinny so not everything fits just right.
-she just had her first snack this week and is working on learning how to self-feed and take a sippy cup on occasion.
-she will be moving into size 2 diapers this week
-she had her first cold last month and her first ear infection this month ☹
-she loves to be active ad on the move
-I think bananas and yogurt are her favorite foods if I had to guess, but she eats everything so far

Overall we are just grateful to the Lord for the gift of this little girl! We are truly blessed! She is such a happy and easy (in my estimation) baby. We pray that one day she will be a wonderful older sister to future siblings and most of all that she would come to know and love Jesus!

6 months!

Today Em had her 6 month appointment and everything looks great! I can't believe how fast these past 6 months have gone by. Everyone says it, but it is so true. We love you sweet Emma Grace and pray daily that you would come to know and love Jesus!

What we've been up to recently...

Now that Emma is almost 6 months it is probably time that I give a little update about what our lives have been like the past 3 months.
Since my last update we have been on 3 trips - 2 to see both of our families during the holidays and 1 for our anniversary. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with our families, and although traveling with an infant requires extra luggage, frequent stops for feeding and changing, and adjustments to sleep patterns, it was more than worth it to see so many of the people we love and for them to be able to spend time with Emma!
So, what has Emma been up to for the last few months:
*She has been sleeping through the night since about 2 months, but she has started waking up in the middle of the night again (possibly teething). Last night was the first night in several weeks that she slept for 9 hours straight and it was wonderful!
*She started rice cereal at 5 1/2 months and has loved it. We tried solids for the first time this week and she definitely was not a fan of sweet potatoes, but apples have been a hit.
*She had to see the orthopedist recently for a click in her left hip. They did an x-ray and determined that everything looked great - what a blessing!
*She has moved into 6 month sleepers and some onesies, but she still cannot wear the 6 month outfits because the pants fall off, ha!
*She loves to smile, giggle, play peek-a-boo, grab our faces, and make lots of funny noises.

She is such a sweet joy to be around and we just praise the Lord for giving us the wonderful gift of this girl!
Here are some recent pictures:






In other news:
In January Aaron and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary by taking a trip to the town of New Bern. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, ate at some great restaurants, and explored the quaint little town. I am so grateful that the Lord has been so gracious to give us 3 years together and can't wait for many more!

Welcome Emma!

This post is long overdue...

On August 3rd sweet Emma Grace Swain was born weighing 4 pounds 3 ounces and 18 inches long. We found out when we went in for an appointment with the doctor when I was 36 weeks that I would be induced the following Monday night because Emma wasn't getting what she needed because the placenta was starting to break down. We went in Monday night to be induced and after being in labor most of the day Tuesday, my blood platelet counts kept getting lower and lower and my body was not progressing, so the doctor decided it would be best to get Emma out right away. So, Tuesday, August 3rd, at 5:43 pm Emma was born.
Because she was 3 weeks early and small due to the issue with the placenta, she had to go straight to the NICU. It was really difficult not having her with us, but she received really great care in the hospital. I was discharged on Saturday night and we couldn't bring Emma home until Tuesday, but it was so wonderful to have her home after only one week in the NICU. We just praise God for Emma doing so well that she could come home when she only weighed 3 pounds 15 ounces!

Here are pictures of her in the NICU





Here is a picture of one of her first smiles around 8 weeks

36 weeks

I am 36 weeks along and getting very close to being considered full term! At my 34 week appointment I was measuring small again and it was somewhat concerning, so they scheduled me for an ultrasound a few days later. My mom was able to come down for the afternoon (it was the first time she had ever seen an ultrasound because they didn't do them when I was born), so she and Aaron both came with me to the ultrasound. They checked Emma all over and checked out her organs, etc.; and thankfully everything looks healthy, she is just small. So, they sent us to a maternal fetal specialist for them to check and see if they could verify the same thing. After ultrasounds at both places they have determined that everything looks healthy – she is just very small. This could be because she is just a small baby or it could be because the placenta is not working properly and she is not getting everything she needs. So, all this means is that they will be monitoring me at least once a week if not more, and if they see that it is an issue with the placenta they will induce early so that she can come out and get the nourishment she needs. They have already told me they will typically induce by 39-40 weeks (before August 24 because I have the gestational diabetes, but this could mean even sooner. As best they can tell by ultrasound, she is right around 4 pounds, and an average size baby would be between 5 and 6 pounds by now.

We would appreciate it if you would pray for us. We are so grateful that I am already 36 weeks along, so even if she comes sometime soon she will hopefully be close to full term and healthy; but, because she is so small and you can only tell so much from the ultrasound she could be in the NICU for a while too. Please pray for her growth and development over the next several weeks!

On another note - we have almost everything we need for Emma's arrival, we are just waiting for the furniture to arrive. I have been working on some nursery projects, so I will hopefully put up pictures soon.
My next appointment is Friday, so I will post an update when we find out how she is doing this week. Thanks for your prayers!