It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Our tree is up, the decorations have been hung, gifts have been wrapped, and songs have been sung (not really but it rhymed). I love Christmas, and this year it will have more meaning than ever as we introduce Emma to it for the first time. Elena and I are looking forward to enjoying this special holiday with little Emma, and even though she won't really understand what is going on, or perceive a difference between this day and any other she has had so far, Elena and I will experience Christmas on a whole new level with the greatest gift of all, Emma.

People always tell you that your life will change when you have children. That if you thought you didn't have time before, you really wouldn't have any when your little one arrived. That the love for your child is instantaneous. I am here to say that all those assertions are true. We have been really busy, as is typical during this time of year, preparing the house, shopping for gifts, keeping up with our weekly tasks, etc. The little free time I had before is nonexistent. In seven weeks I have not had any real time for me. I use to mark the end of my week with a nice long online gaming session playing strategic war games and such but that has now taken a back burner to caring for my little pumpkin. I have not gotten online for over seven weeks. When Emma was born that luxury time was cut out, cold-turkey. I do find comfort, however, imagining a day when Emma will play with me. I plan to always be a child so that our life together is always fun. I plan to expose Emma to things like Legos, and computer games, fantasy books like "Harry Potter", "The Chronicles of Narnia", etc. Computers, video games, and European style board games. Of course she will get her share of dolls and girly stuff, but I want her to be my little buddy too. I hope to expose her to things that will develop her critical thinking skills so that she will grow up empowered. I want to teach her about finances, how to save, how to invest, and how to manage her income. And I want to do this at an early age so that she grows up making responsible decisions throughout her life.

I took a day off this week to accompany Elena and Emma to the Pediatricians office. It was an unscheduled visit that was prompted by a night where Emma had diarrhea and threw-up. Elena was going to go alone but she has not recovered fully from her C-Section yet for me to feel comfortable enough to allow her to dock and undock Emma's car seat (which is situated in the center of our car). That action requires a lot of abdominal muscles and Elena had already gotten an infection a few weeks back when she decided to scrub the floor of our shower. This resulted in a painful puffy swelling in the area of her incision, and a trip to her OBGYN whereby she was prescribed antibiotics to treat her illness. Elena has been doing well and I believe she finishes her medicine tonight. In any event, Emma is OK. The doctor believes that she may be reacting to her Mommy's antibiotics. It was good to see her prior to our scheduled visit because it allowed us to ask a host of questions we had, as well as address Emma's eating disorder. You see, Emma has a voracious appetite and has been packing on the pounds. She has been consuming five to six ounces of milk at every sitting and feeds every two to three hours. She is now a whopping 12 lbs 7 oz. That's one chunky monkey! The Doctor examined Emma and delicately told us that we had to slow her down a bit so Emma is now on the "Atkins Diet". She is allowed to have up to six ounces of milk every three hours (not a drop sooner). During the day we are allowed to wait up to four hours if she doesn't ask for it, and at night we are allowed to let her sleep through the night if she doesn't wake for food. We left the office with a pale frightened look on our faces wondering how we were going to make this work as the rules set by the doctor had never been done before. Emma is a monster and neither Elena nor I wanted to be the one to break the news to her that she would have to wait when she called out for food. Fortunately for us, Emma did something when we got home that to this day amazes us. She followed the Doctor's orders. Elena and I didn't have to do a thing. It's as if Emma was listening and decided to take her health into her own hands. She has been consuming around 4-5 ounces at each meal and waiting three hours between meals. In addition, Emma was able to last through the night yesterday on a single feeding.

Elena's Mom came by this weekend again. She cooked-up a storm and loved Emma up. She carried Emma and sang "Tea For Two" to Emma while gritting her teeth in a "Don't squeeze the Charmin" kind of way while walking, in what Elena refers to as, "The Penguin Dance". It is nice to see Elena and her Mother enjoying Emma together. Emma is lucky to be loved so much by so many.

Emma is pretty fussy at the moment and crying rather hysterically. It is 11:25 PM and I have work in the morning. I am going to end it here so I can lend Elena a hand and see if we can get our Princess to calm down and go to sleep.