December in a nutshell

Emmi girl

I took this video a few weeks ago, but I just love watching Emmi try to communicate with us. She's a big talker... wonder where she gets it?

My friend Courtney White took these beautiful pictures of Miss Emmi. If you're interested in her photography click here.

Emmi is doing great. She is a mega eater! She came out starving and knew just what to do. As for sleeping, she's still at the stage where she sleeps a lot. I haven't had un-interrupted sleep for years, so it hasn't been bad getting up with her. She goes back to sleep right after she eats in the night. The only thing that has been tricky is that she seems to be pretty gassy in the evenings. It makes her a little irritable. We started giving her some gas relief drops and a warm bath. It seems to be helping. It's funny how crying doesn't bother me after three kids like it did with the first. Other than that, she is so sweet and I have just tried to enjoy every second. I realize now how fast they grow. (Plus, I have loved all the girlie things!)

The boys are doing great with her. They love her and someone is always asking to hold her. Parker calls her, "my cutie baby." He is the most gentle with her. Josh holds her the most secure, but is a little jerky. He isn't as gentle as Parker. In general, Josh isn't as affectionate as Parker, so it's fun to watch him gush all over his little sister. They both like burping her, go figure. That is totally a boy thing.

As for me, I'm feeling great. I feel like our family is finding its new form of normalcy. We're still keeping Emmi in for a few more weeks, but we have had a couple little excursions out. I have felt so blessed by the number of people who have been excited about our little girl. Neighbors have left gifts on our porch, teachers and friends at Josh's school have kept in touch to find out what we had, we've received fun packages in the mail, gifts from David's co-workers, and lots of offers of help from family, friends, and ward members. We have just felt so loved.

Miss Emmi Diana

We are so excited to welcome Emmi Diana to our family. I am still in shock that we have a little girl. She is so sweet and wonderful! I feel so blessed that Dave and I have the chance to have a daughter.

Emmi was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 21.5 inches long
She was much bigger than I expected. I have had really wonderful deliveries and Emmi's was no exception. They started the pitocin at 7:30 am and we had her at 3:17 pm (about 4 hours less than my boys). I was induced this time and the process was faster than the boys. For me the epidural does magic for helping me progress. I went from a 4 to 10 in a little over an hour. She came out after less than 20 minutes of pushing. David kept saying, "Oh this baby is big!" Then I hear him say, "It's a girl!!" I couldn't even believe it. One thing that was so special was that we had my mother in-law Dorene, Gramma Jean, Aunt Teri, and Janell there to share this experience with us. While my own mom couldn't be there, I felt so loved to have all these great women and my wonderful husband there to cheer me on. Plus, all the doctors and nurses were so excited to find out if it was a boy or a girl.

Emmi's hiding under my arms, but this is us sharing the news with my parents. They were over joyed!

The boys were interested in seeing their sister. Parker said "she's so cute."

Josh was thought the baby was going to be a sister. He's already a great helper and cares about her very much. He's going to be a protective big brother.

Dave is amazing. Part of his job has included attending deliveries to care for babies immediately after they are born. He had everything set up for the nurse so she could get Emmi checked and weighed. He stayed right by her side to make sure she was getting the best care.

We had four generations of Mills there the day she was born

We were settled in our room and all the family headed home. Dave and I had a chance to spend the evening with our little lady. He stayed late to get her fed and off to the nursery so I could get some rest.

She was a good size, but she looks really big in this picture.

The boys were happy to have their sister home.

So far Parker hasn't tried to pick her up on his own. Surprisingly Josh did. He did a good job, but it caught me off guard. He is still learning how to support her head.

Parker has to be cheek to cheek when he holds her. Then he sings "Rock a bye baby"

She almost fell asleep while her dad was giving her, her first bath at home.

Parker had a hard time falling asleep the first night we were home from the hospital. So he came downstairs and ended up falling asleep right next to his sister.

Today I caught these two snoozing together. I had to get a picture. She didn't even mind her bow was over her eyes.

I can't express what a blessing this little girl is. I love my boys so much and adding a girl makes our family that much sweeter.

Parkie

Parker makes us laugh everyday. On this particular 98 degree day he decided to put on all the shirts in his drawer. Which is ironic because he usually wears very little clothing. The pictures might not do him justice but he was so bulky. It just cracked me up watching him ride his bike down the street with his thick torso and arms.

He had between 7-8 shirts on

What would we do without this boy?

Summer Vacations

Instead of blogging all about our summer, the past couple years I have made photo books. The boys enjoy looking through them and reliving the fun we've had. I thought I'd post a few pictures to share what we've been up to.

We celebrated Parker sleeping in his own bed (not getting into ours) with a trip to McDonald's.

We went to a cabin in Tahoe with our friend's Scot, Amy, and Larkin.
It was such a treat to hang out with them.

The kids had a great time playing together.

Josh lost his first tooth. The Tooth Fairy brought him a gold dollar and some gum. For some reason he told me the Tooth Fairy brings gum, guess she does.

We celebrated Josh's 6th birthday.

We took an airplane to Utah to see Grandpa & Grandma Surganovich.

As a bonus we ran into some of our favorite people, The Henrie's, at the SLC airport.

Grandpa took us to The Hogle Zoo.

He also took us to Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum

We visited Em & Cliff.

We also visited Aunt Lrae.

And of course Uncle Jared, Aunt Sam, and Ethan.

We celebrated birthday's with friends

and we celebrated Parker's 4th birthday.

I don't have pictures of Grandma & Grandpa Mills camp, but the boys had a fantastic time with them. The theme was trains this year. So, there was a sampling of our summer. We sure enjoy our time with these boys. They make our life so good.

Visit with Uncle Chad

My brother came to see us in May. Uncle Chad has officially become a Marine. He is finishing his last year at Virginia Military Institute and then will move on to his assignment in the Marines. We're lucky to see Chad maybe twice a year, so when he came for a week we were thrilled.

The boys love to wrestle with all their uncles and Uncle Chad is no exception. They spent a lot of time wrestling each morning. One great thing about my brother is that he cares so much about all his nephews. When he calls he wants to know how they are, what they have been doing, how school is, etc... all the details. I appreciate the interest he takes in them, it makes them feel special. He even mailed them a letter from Office Candidate School telling them about what he's been doing in terms they understand. I am grateful for the relationships my boys can develop with their family.

Lovely Ladies

This picture was taken at the end of June. I'm grateful for all the wonderful women in my life. These are just a few I'm lucky enough to live close to.

Visit with The Surganovich's

My brother Jared, his wife Samantha, and my nephew Ethan came for a visit a couple weeks ago. It was a treat to have them here with us. We were so sad to see them go (literally, Josh cried as they pulled out of the driveway.) My brother was in a wedding, so he was busy most the week. We had a wonderful time with Sam and Ethan.

My boys just love their (only first) cousin! They catered to his every need. I think Ethan is convinced that he is just as big as the boys. In the mornings all three boys would snuggle up on the couch and watch cartoons. Ethan is good at giving hugs, so he would sneak up on the boys and wrap his arms around their necks. It was very sweet.

I kept Ethan one evening so Jared & Sam could enjoy the rehearsal dinner without a little man to follow around. He is going through a picky stage of eating. Sam is a great mom and does everything she can to get him to eat the right things. Ethan doesn't like to feed himself, but for me he decided to give it a try. I gave him a regular fork, he was messy, but he did a great job feeding myself. He would pick up the chicken and set it on the teeth of the fork, or I'd help him poke it onto his fork. He's a smart cookie, he knows just what he likes and doesn't like.

After spending five days with us, our house felt bare without them. We loved having them here. We are looking forward to seeing them again at Christmastime when we travel to Utah.