Oh the adventures we will have...: The "Fourth Trimester"

Some books will tell you that the first three months of your baby's life should have really been the "fourth trimester" of pregnancy, meaning the baby could have used that time to develop and mature more emotionally before making his or her arrival. Yet, our bodies decide (thankfully) that it would be less than enjoyable to house a baby for an entire year and hence they come before their "last trimester." As we finished this fourth trimester this past week I reflect and think that in some ways it makes sense. There may have been fewer sleep deprived nights and less crying for unknown reasons had I carried her another few months. However, we would have missed out on so much fun! She would have been born smiling, giggling, rolling over and doing so many other things that we have thoroughly enjoyed watching her conquer in just these first few months. I keep saying to Steve that she is already just like a "little person," to which he responds... "well she is." But what I really mean is I can't believe how much she can already interact with us and show us her personality. She has already come so far from that little baby that we met at the end of June!

Practicing her Thriller dance

What?! Already reading?!

Keeping us busy this third month Emma has conquered her hands and is constantly grasping for everything within reach. She hasn't yet found her feet, but I expect that to happen very soon. She also can now roll over from her back to her tummy and thoroughly enjoys doing so. Here she demonstrated it for me right when I asked, http://youtu.be/JMxZqJwqdN8 . She rarely puts the whole sequence together of back to tummy, tummy to back, of which I'm secretly a little happy about as I know that signifies the start of her moving outside of my control! However, she has already become a tummy sleeper now that she can flip over when we put her down on her back. Just one more trait she has inherited from her dad.

Grabbing everything within reach!

All tuckered out from playtime...

This past month Emma also started a music class! You might think she is a little young (and she is the youngest in her class by three months), but that doesn't mean she's too young to enjoy it. After only a few weeks it seems she already knows where she is as soon as she arrives, and she absolutely loves it. It is fun to see her so intrigued, smiling, and giggling during the singing, dancing, and playing we do in the class.

Showing some attitude with those sunglasses, she thought taking them on and off was the best game!

Another "achievement" of the past month is that Emma has become as "official" of a U.S. citizen and Swiss resident as possible. The logistics of being born in another country meant a lot of paperwork, appointments, and phone calls, but I'm happy to report that I think they are all done now (and especially happy that taking posed open eye photos with a newborn are over). Here is a look at everything Emma needed to become official:

Swiss Birth Certificate (looks nothing like a U.S. birth certificate at 3 pages in length and printed in 5 different languages)
Swiss Residency Permit Card
U.S. Consular Report of Birth Abroad Certificate
U.S. Passport
U.S. Social Security Card

Emma's at home glamour shot photo... not her passport photo

And on a side note, for any of you out there that have expressed concern over some of the violence going on near U.S. embassies abroad, there is no need to worry about us. First, the embassy is actually in another city (Bern, which is the capital). Second, to get all of Emma's U.S. documentation we instead visited the U.S. consulate in Zurich, which I guess you could kind of consider a satellite office to the embassy that allowed us to not have to travel to another city. It was the most interesting of experiences as you think that a place like this would be in a big official building, but instead this was a tiny 2 or 3 room office in a rather plain building. The security officer was incredibly friendly and comical, while the people we had to present Emma's paperwork to were quite unfriendly almost to the point of being rude. Let's just say if I were a Swiss citizen visiting this office as my first impression of the United States government I would leave fairly unimpressed!

Now that she's official to travel anywhere she wants... practicing sitting next to other passengers!

Finally, I have done a lot of reflecting over the past couple of weeks as I realized that if we were still in St. Louis and had Emma I would have recently headed back to work. I am not entirely sure what I am in for as I take on the role of stay-at-home mom for the immediate future, but I know in many ways it will be incredibly fulfilling as I get to be here to watch Emma hit many new milestones as she grows and develops. I also know it will be challenging like nothing else and there will (and have already been) days where I think "I wish I were at work right now because it would certainly be easier than this!" Yet I am so excited for this experience and I know I will look back and treasure it and this special time in Emma's life that I got to be so close to her. Oh the adventures we will have!