March: A Month of Firsts

 

 

March has been such an exciting month! Emory is growing and changing daily. This month has been filled with a lot of first.

Four Generations

My mom and my grandma came up to Nashville at the beginning of the month to visit Emory. This was the first time that Emory has been able to meet one of her great grandparents. They flew up from Florida on Friday and stayed until Sunday. It was wonderful having them here. We spent the weekend hanging around the house and spending time with Emory. My mom and her family actually lived in Nashville when she was in 3rd grade. So we drove out to see if we could find their old house. Turns out that a lot has changed since then! The house was no longer there, and the area is now filled with apartments and shops. The weekend was alot of fun, but of course it went by way too fast. It was really special to have four generations together!



Emory and her great grandma, Bockie Pifer

Emory must have been pretty excited about having her grandma and great grandma here, because she decided to show off! She had her first real laugh!!! It was the best sound in the entire world...brought tears to my eyes. Martin was holding her and she was looking at my mom and Bockie. Emory thought that whatever they were doing was hilarious, because she laughed so much! She was laughing out loud and it was adorable! She kept laughing on and off for a good 5 minutes. Luckily I captured it on video. I watch it whenever I need to smile :)

 

She also had ANOTHER first that weekend...she rolled over from her back to her belly! Bockie and I were up in the nursery putting some clothes in her dresser. She had just woken up from a nap, so we took her out of the crib and placed her on a blanket on the floor. We placed her on her back, turned around to put more clothes away, and when we turned back around she was on her stomach! The rest of the weekend she would roll on her side and try so hard to roll over. She did it a few more times that weekend, but hasn't done it a lot since.

 

This month also brought my first day back to work, and with that came Emory's first day of daycare. I have been dreading this day for a VERY long time! I hate the fact that someone else will get to spend more time with her than me. I hate the fact that she will get sick all of the time. I hate the fact that she won't nap while she is at daycare. Overall, I just did not like that idea of daycare AT ALL! I also wasn't ready to go back to work. I truly enjoyed staying home with her all day. I decided to have her start daycare a week early, this would hopefully make the transition a little easier for me. So the week before I went back to work I took her to daycare. The people at the daycare are great. They have gone above and beyond to make this easier for me. They have an open door policy, and I am able to stop by and see her as much as I want during the day. Little did they know that I would take FULL advantage of that policy.

 

 

First day of daycare



So the dreaded first day of daycare was finally here. I took her around 8 that morning. I dropped her off and decided to hang out there with her for a little bit. When I finally decided to leave the tears started flowing. I couldn't hold it back. I tried to hide it from the teachers, but I was a mess. I left and went by work to get some things done. When I stopped by to talk to one of my bosses I immediately started crying again! I cried all day. I went up to the daycare every two hours to check on her. Of course she was perfectly fine...she even seemed to be having fun! I did this little routine for the rest of the week, and everyday it got a little easier.

Then it was my turn to head back to work...back to reality. As much as I was dreading this it all worked out. I am actually happy to be back at work now. I am truly blessed to have a job that I enjoy. I love the people that I work with, and I enjoy the students that I teach. Everyone at work welcomed me back on my first day with cupcakes! They know me too well.

 

I prayed about this transition back to work a lot! I prayed that God would keep Emory safe and help her to enjoy daycare. I prayed that I would enjoy going back to work and not be too stressed out.  Well God listened (like always) and He has made this a very smooth transition. I decided that I could either worry and stress about all of this, or make the best of it. So now I try to look at the positive things about going back to work. First of all, I love my job, and I don't want to lose it. Second of all, by working I am going to be able to provide a great life for Emory. She's going to want toys, a trip to Disney, and to go to college...all of which Martin and I will be able to give her. And finally, daycare really will be beneficial for her in the long run. She will get used to interacting with the other kids, she will have fun playing with them, she will learn to be around other people besides just me, and she will have one heck of an immune system! Having this attitude has made going back to work much easier!

 

She has also started using her Bumbo seat!

 

 

 

 



 

Tonight we had another first...we fed Emory rice cereal! This is the first time we have fed her anything. She wasn't so sure at first. She had the first bite and made the most interesting face, and spit most of it out. But by the 3rd spoonful she was actually opening her mouth when Martin held the spoon in front of her. Of course she spilled it all over herself, but that made it even cuter!

 

 



March has been such a fun month! We experienced a lot of firsts, and we got to celebrate Martin's 31st birthday! Emory has brought us so much laughter and joy!