The Jackson Family: Three Weeks Old!

Emma is three weeks old today! I can't believe how fast time is going. I feel so bad too because I haven't been keeping up the blog with things about her. It's been a hard but rewarding past 3 weeks. The first week we were just trying to get used to the whole lack of sleep thing...lol. Emma definitely had her days and nights mixed up. She would have cluster feedings at night, wanting to eat practically every hour and not really sleeping in between. Then she would sleep most of the day and I would have to wake her up to eat. By the second week she was a little bit better and had some good nights when she and I would get a good 3 hour stretch of sleep at a time. Those nights were very nice to have! But with the good comes the bad. She started to cry a lot the second week and is still having problems with that. We think she might be somewhat colicky because she just seems unhappy a LOT! Poor baby! It's so hard to hear them cry and not know what's wrong with them. Thankfully she does take a pacifier, but sometimes she won't even take that. She's also had some problems eating. Unless I get her on right away before she starts wailing, it takes forever to get her to calm down enough to latch on. She also gets so excited when she eats that she hyperventilates, swallows tons of bubbles, and sometimes gets the milk down the wrong pipe. I end up having to get her back on 3 or 4 times on each side because of those things. The second week I also got a breast infection. I had started feeling very achy and kept getting fevers. I was so worried I was sick with something that I was going to give to Emma and so I was relieved when I found out it was something I couldn't give to her. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics and things got better after that. Although I must say that breastfeeding is very painful, even still. But we just keep going knowing that it is for the best and that it won't always be this way. Emma also had her first real photo shoot her second week of life! We had our friend Ashley from our ward take pictures of her for us. She did a fantastic job! We are really happy with the results. Emma did a great job too! She only cried a little and gave the camera some really cute poses and faces. I've posted a lot of those pictures on Facebook so I'll only post a few favorites here.

Then her third week she had another photo shoot by our friend Jocelyn, also from the ward. She offered to take a few pictures so she could get some practice and they turned out so cute as well! Jocelyn is definitely talented! Emma is also so photogenic. We love it! I'll post some of those when we get them back. Emma has also had a chance to go a few places and really likes car rides and stroller rides. Her first week we went to the doctor for her first check up and all was well with her. Then later in the week we had to go back to the hospital for her second hearing screening since her right ear had failed the first one after birth. Thankfully she passed this time! I'm glad she can hear because it seems like she's been enjoying listening to Mom and Dad play the piano and sing to her. Her second week we took her to another doctor's appointment and she checked out healthy again! We are so happy to have a healthy baby! So blessed! The next day we went to our options selection appointment for our new house that we are building! That's also some new news. The Friday before she was born we signed the papers to buy and build a new home! It was a great deal that we couldn't pass up so we did it. It's so much fun too to choose the things we want inside. It's going to be so nice to have our own home! It should be done by the end of November so we're looking forward to it! We can't wait!! After choosing our upgrades, we stopped by the bank where I used to work so my old co-workers could all see Emma. It was nice to see them again and they all loved her. Emma's also had a chance to go out for a stroll around the neighborhood, go to Costco, and go on an outing for lunch to Jocelyn's house. Slowly we're getting her used to going out and to life in general on this earth :). She's also growing a lot! Her newborn size clothes are starting to get pretty tight on her and she's looking more like an infant than a newborn. She's just such a cutie and I can't get enough of her! Here are some random pictures of her during the past 3 weeks.

After her first bath at home: