September - November: A Summary

September through October proved to be busy months for us!  We worked on the house from the day we received our keys (Sept. 21st), up to the day our carpet was installed (Oct. 31st).  Below is a video of our renovation. :)

November slowed down with the house, but not with our social lives.  November 7th was Matt's an my 3rd wedding anniversary.  He was so sweet, he surprised me with a dozen red roses delivered to our house, and told me to be ready to go out at 7:00pm.  He asked my mom secretly to babysit Emilee, and when he got home from work, he took me to a surprise location dinner.  We ate at the Pomona Mining Company, with a beautiful view of the valley below.  I'm such a lucky girl!

Close to our anniversary though, is Matt's 30th birthday, on November 9th.  I had been planning to throw him a surprise party on November 10th, and have his best friends from out of state fly in to spend the weekend with us.  On his actual birthday, our friends Nick and Katie and I took him out to dinner to the Melting Pot as a decoy.  Everyone else he invited gracefully declined (he had no idea it was because of his party the next day).

During dinner, I stayed in touch with our friends who were flying in.  I left our home's side door unlocked for them to come in, and when we got home from dinner, you can imagine the surprise on Matt's face to see his friends from Iowa and Oregon sitting on our couch!  He thought THAT was his birthday surprise.

The next day, our friends took Matt out as planned, so that a few of our friends and I could start setting up the house for the party.  There were a few hiccups, along the way, but we got the surprise we had hoped for!  It was a fun party, and great way to also show off our newly finished home.  After the party, we took the time before Thanksgiving to finally relax in our new home.

Thanksgiving we spent at my parent's house, and had a wonderful time!  The next day, we packed up and drove up north to Porterville to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt, Uncle and cousins.  We had a wonderful time introducing Emilee to Matt's side of the family.

December has been busy as well, and we are looking forward to Christmas, a trip to Colorado, and the New Year.  All that to come in my next post!  Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,
The Ott Family

March - September : A Summary

Once again, it's time to play catch up on our blog!  March - April found us settling into parenthood.  Emilee's first official outing was on April 8th for Easter at Mom and Dad's.

Easter - April 8th, 2012

 For the most part, Matt and I stayed home with Emilee until we slowly started getting comfortable going out with her.  We worked hard on her schedule, and by 8 weeks she was sleeping through the night!  Once this happened, life got easier!  We celebrated Mom's 50th birthday and my sister's birthday in April.  Then on May 5th, we took our first baby-free outing!

Wine Tasting in Temecula

Matt and I booked a wine-tasting tour in Temecula with a group of friends.  We had a limo bus drive all of us to 4-5 different wineries.  Emilee got to stay with her Grandma for the day.  We had such a great time, although by the end of the day we couldn't wait to get back to our sweet daughter.

Towards the end of May, we took Emilee to meet more of her family.  She got to meet her Great Auntie June and Uncle Mike, as well as her Great Uncle Curt and Uncle Richard.  It was a wonderful visit getting to see everyone!

Lunch at Auntie June and Uncle Mike's

In June, Emilee got to attend her first wedding (for our family friend Kelly).  She did great on staying quiet for the ceremony, although she did just about everything else (belching after her bottle, passing gas, and dirtying her diaper real good), but overall, she was an angel, and we had a great evening!

Temecula Wedding

The end of June, Emilee had her baby dedication done at Wilshire Avenue Community Church in Fullerton.  We had started taking Emilee to church by about 3 months of age, and she has loved it!  She likes watching the band, and everyone singing.

July our good friend Nick was turning 30, and his wife planned a surprise trip to Vegas for him.  It was Emilee's first long road trip.  She did great in the car, and was fascinated by everything around her.  We also have friends that live out in Vegas, so we went to visit with them a couple hours, and later checked into our hotel.  

Nick's 30th Birthday in Vegas

5 month old picture

Speaking of Emilee so much, parenthood has been wonderful!  Emilee is now 6 months old, and getting so big!  She's taller than 95% of babies her age, and bigger than 85% of babies her age.  We call her our gentle giant.

She's gathering so many nicknames as she gets older.  We call her "Em" for short a lot.  This has led to: Em-N-Em (or Em-N-Em Peanut), and Emma-Boo (or Em-e-Boo).  She's also been called Hunny Bunny and Boo-Boo.

She's started on her baby foods, and has loved everything with the exception of green beans... she'll eat them, but make faces.  She's also learning to sit up by herself.  1-2 more weeks and she'll probably have it down.  Rolling over from her back to her tummy is her favorite movement currently.

She's been playing with her voice a lot more now too.  Her first noises were blowing bubbles and raspberries, followed next by a low-pitched "aaahhhh", and now she's discovered her high-pitched voice and is experimenting with all kinds of "aaahhhhs" and "ooooohs".  She's entertaining herself so much more these days, it's been so fun to watch!

August found Matt and I house hunting.  We found a cute starter home in Glendora, and made our offer.  The entire house buying process was quite a headache.  We had to deal with sellers that were pretty selfish and inconsiderate, Wells Fargo delaying our loan and giving us false promises, and a realtor who was stuck in the middle of it all.

During this time, we planned a trip up to Salinas.  We spent a weekend wine tasting in Carmel, eating clam chowder in Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey, and having a great time with our friends.

Wine Tasting in Carmel

Taking a baby break

After our trip, we moved in with my parents since the lease at our apartment ended.  This had not been part of our original plan, since escrow was supposed to close two weeks before the end of our lease (giving us time to make upgrades to the house before moving in), but we ended up finally getting keys two weeks after.

The day we got our keys, disaster struck.  The 21 year old water heater in the middle of the house busted and flooded the hall and bedrooms.  Sad part is that we were concerned about the water heater from the very beginning, and even our home inspector said it should be replaced.  We made the request, but the sellers refused.  Not quite the "Welcome Home" we were hoping for.  We are now working through the seller's home insurance to have repairs done since this occurred before escrow closed.

On a positive note though, we are hoping to be moved in and settled by mid-October if everything goes well.

That's about everything so far!  It's going to be a busy and exciting holiday season coming up that's for sure!

Catching Up (September - March)

It has been a long time since I last posted in Matt's and my blog!  So much has been happening, I'm afraid I can only summarize at this point to catch up.

We moved into our new apartment last September.  It's been a wonderful change!  The extra space has made a big difference.  We're much more organized, and I've had a lot of fun decorating the place.

I also flew up to Napa for one of my best friend's Bachelorette parties.  It was a limo wine tasting tour.  Being 2-3 months pregnant, I only tasted a couple different wines (just sips), but still had a great time! Plus, some of the wineries had non-alcoholic wines I could enjoy.

October we went on a camping trip to Catalina island with a group of friends.  My parents joined us, and were so generous as to drive us over on their boat.  The weather was beautiful, and we all had a great time!

November found Matt and I celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary.  We exchanged cards and went to El Torrito Grill, where we had our first official dinner date almost 7 years ago. 

We also celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's house, and then drove up to Porterville to spend a second Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt, Uncle and cousins.

December was more of a relaxing month.  We spent the night at my parent's house Christmas Eve, and enjoyed Christmas Day with everyone.  We also started putting Emilee's room together.  Things were beginning to get exciting as I was beginning to show my baby bump more, and starting the 3rd trimester.

January was a little busier.  We spent New Year's weekend in Wrightwood with a few friends, for our annual cabin trip.  Everyone snowboarded up at Mt. High, while my best friend Kristen and I browsed the cute village shopping.

January also found Matt, Camille, Brendan and me driving up to Novato to spend a weekend with Uncle Curt and Uncle Richard.  We took the ferry and spent a day in San Francisco as well.

February we started winding down on our travels and plans.  We spent a weekend with my Grandparents in Palm Desert, hosted a dinner party with some friends, had my baby shower for little Emilee, sold my Saturn and bought my Dad's Honda Element for our new family car!

Finally, the month we had been anxiously awaiting for - March! The first half of the month seemed to last forever!  We patiently (or not so patiently) waited for labor to start.  I was walking almost every day, dancing in our apartment, doing chores... anything to try and encourage things to start.  The due date came and went, and by the time I was one week late I had to go in for some non-stress tests to check Emilee's heartbeat and get an ultrasound.  Little did we know, I would not be leaving the hospital for the next 2 days, and would be induced that very day!

Emilee was born on March 21st, at 12:17pm, weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 20 in. long.  Recovery has been a little rough, but in a matter of 2 weeks, I've been able to bounce back a great deal.  Emilee is just the sweetest little thing, and we couldn't be happier!  Parenthood is both challenging and wonderful - I am so excited to have the privilege to raise our beautiful baby girl.

(If anyone wants to read my actual labor/birth experience, it can be found on my other blog: http://sweetart-ott.blogspot.com/)