but, in exchange i have two (mostly) sweet babies who do lots of cute things. emerson is a good sleeper, about a 5 hour stretch at night, and really only has 1-2 fussy periods a day. all in all, a pretty easy baby, i would say. adam may disagree though; we are constantly debating whether or not he cries more than bryn did. one thing is for sure - emerson is WAY bigger than bryn was. he was 12 lbs., 11 oz. at his two month check-up. bryn didn't get to that weight until almost 5 months old (still 3 months, correcting for prematurity). it's great having a nice, chubby, robust baby - he just feels so much sturdier and is definitely much stronger. he has been holding his head up (ok, not a lot, but it's still impressive) since the first week! he loves cuddling but also likes a chance to stretch out, which is when we get to do my favorite thing: smile and "talk" to each other. emerson will spend 10-15 minutes, a few times a day, just watching me and smiling and cooing, and he has the biggest smile. *sigh*
bryn is growing up so fast. she has really become a little kid, no longer a baby or a toddler. she is a great big sister and loves to help out. she's very concerned whenever emerson cries ("i think he's hungry") and offers to "get baby", give him a pacifier (off the floor though) or help change his diaper. she likes to snuggle with him and see him smile ("look, he's happy!"), but she has also suggested that i "give baby to daddy" or "put brother down" and often throws a fit when i tell her i can't do something with her. then again, these days she throws a fit pretty much any time she doesn't get her way. she likes to tell me, "no, i can't", "i told you", "stop", and "give it", sometimes while flailing her arms and legs and/or throwing things. other times she tries the spoonful of sugar tactic: "oh, mom, it's ok", "it'd be fun/awesome" or just repeating the request with a different inflection and a big, ingratiating smile. we're still working on our approach to discipline.
i know i'm leaving out lots of other things, but if i try to write about them all, i won't get this posted until next month. please check out our flickr page for a better overview of our activities... but i do want to thank aaron, ting, sierra, leah and brian for coming out to visit! and extra special thanks to my parents for all the invaluable post-partum help. we couldn't have done it without you.