Half a year!

Look at those cute little Teeth

You love eating big girl foods!

Cheerleader for Halloween!

Always on the go, you will be crawling soon!

First time sitting in grocery cart!

My precious little Emily, today you are 6 months old! Can you believe it? Your Mommy and Daddy sure can't! You have made us smile every day for the past 6 months and we can not get over how much we love you! Would you like to know some of the exciting things you have been up to??

*We took you to the Dr. on Monday and you are 18 lbs. 8 oz and are 27 inches long! Your Dr. was very impressed at how much you have grown and said you were a very happy and healthy little girl! Maybe you will be a basketball player??

*You are now wearing 9 month clothes! Some are even 12 months!! You are such a long baby, everyone always comments on that.:)

*You are now wearing a size 3 diaper.

*You eat a lot all day long!! About 4-5 bottles a day plus eating yummy solids two times a day. So far you have tried and LOVED: sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce and pears....things you have tried and did NOT love: Avocados and Sweet Peas....you make very silly faces and start spitting out anything GREEN!!! Oh well, we will just have to keep working on those veggies! You also enjoy your fruit mixed with Baby Oatmeal. We began offering you water in your very own sippy cup! You get SOO excited when we show you the cup, and you reach for it and drink out of it all by yourself, what a big girl you are!

*You got your first two teeth! They came in at about the same time, and you weren't too happy about it at first, but now you love smiling and showing off your brand new pearly whites. We began brushing your two little teeth and you love sucking on your toothbrush:)

*You are on the verge of both crawling and sitting up by yourself. For the most part you can support yourself when you sit up, but you are still a little wobbly, practice makes perfect sweetie!

*You are always on the move, not much of a cuddle bug this days...:) You roll all over the floor, mostly off of your blanket, you always talk to your kitties, Chloe and Tucker, and enjoy talking, screaming and laughing a lot!!:)

*Another activity that you enjoy is your jumper! We hang it in the door way so when we cook dinner or are cleaning up we can watch you! You jump non stop for about half an hour!! It is one of your favorite things to do right now.

*You are starting to change your sleeping patterns, and we think it is because you are growing so much right now. You still sleep about 10-11 hours a night but sometimes you wake up and are hungry. You also do not like going to bed at night without falling asleep on your mommy or daddy first. You have learned that neither one of us enjoy listening to you cry in bed, so we usually go back in and get you to comfort you till you fall asleep.

How could we not fall more in love with you every day Emily Jean?! You are a precious gift to us and we have so much fun getting to know you more and more.

We think you are the sweetest girl and we love you to the moon and back Emily!!

Always

A dear friend of mine gave me the Plumb cd for one of my Baby showers. The day I found out I was pregnant I babysat for her little boy, Jaden, and as I rocked him to sleep this song was playing. Then when we were at the hospital we brought this CD and I got to rock my little girl to sleep listening to this same song. So to all my mommy and mommy to be friends, you MUST get the Plumb CD, at most Christian bookstores....it is amazing!! Here are the lyrics to one of my favorites.


Always

Out of nowhere
You came
From a little dust
And a little rain
And when I looked down at
Your face
It showed to me
The truth and grace

I will always try to keep you very safe

So open up your eyes
So they can look in mine
And see a small reflection
And when you close your eyes
I pray the thoughts inside
Are beautiful and true

I won't always
Be this strong
And I won't always
Be the one
To kiss the bruise
Or heal the scrapes
To wipe the tear drops
From your face
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com

But I will always love you more each day

So open up your eyes
So they can look in mine
And see a small reflection
And when you close your eyes
I pray the thoughts inside
Are beautiful and true

I will always love you more each day
I will always try to keep you safe

So open up your eyes
So they can look in mine
And see a small reflection
And when you close your eyes
I pray the thoughts inside
Are beautiful and true

I will always
I will always ... love you

5 months and growing

Our little pumpkin

What a big girl!

Mommy and Emily

Playing games with Daddy

Petting Tucker

Emily and Great Grannie Malone

Our little girl is now 5 months old, and what a little sweetie she is becoming. She has always been a sweetie, don't get me wrong. But she has a very calm, very sensitive and loving personality. She is extremely ticklish!! Her feet...her ribs, her neck, her armpits! One of our favorite things to do is lay on the floor and tickle her and she just laughs and laughs!
Emily loves watching Tucker and Chloe play, she always smiles when she sees them and now likes to pet them very softly and talk to them. It is so adorable. Sometimes she tries to put them in her mouth...but we try to stop that before it happens:) She has gotten into a good routine, and we are working on establishing an earlier bedtime for her. She loves staying up LATE and sometimes is too stimulated in the evening and stays up fairly late with me. We have tried to stay with an evening routine and are seeing some positive results so far.
We took Emily to Lattin's Cider Mill to pick out her pumpkin for Halloween! She got to visit all the goats, ducks, turkeys, cows, chickens and pigs! We had a great time walking her around and seeing everything through her eyes. Todd and I have enjoyed many weekends with the three of us at home. Todd has gotten to spend a lot of time with her during the weekend, and I got to do some Scrapbooking and baking!
Emily has also had her first taste of solid foods! Sweet Potatoes, Rice Cereal, and today she had a little bit of banana mashed up in her Rice Cereal, she eats all that I give her and seems to really enjoy it. We decided it was a good time to introduce these solid foods because she was constantly wanting more from her bottle and never seemed completely satisfied. We will feed her solid foods once a day for a few weeks, and then begin feeding her solid foods twice a day. The foods that we can introduce at her age are Sweet Potatoes, Bananas and Avocados...also Rice Cereal.
Some other exciting family news, we were able to be at the engagement of Craig (my brother) and his new fiance Sarah! It was a fun time for the family to all be together.
Emily also was able to spend a whole week with her Great Grannie Malone, we had a great time visiting, shopping and spending some special time with her!
Next month Emily will have her 6 month pictures taken by Tessa with Joyful Moments Photography, we bought her an adorable dress and are so excited! So many people have commented on her pictures and say she should be a baby model:) I think she could be, but I'm no stage mom:)

4 Months

4 Months old

Almost crawling!

Long Beach 2009

Emily's 4 month stats:

16 lbs.
25 3/4 inches long

My baby is growing so fast! She has started scooting across the floor...talking all the time...laughing all the time...smiling and enjoying grabbing everything in sight and putting it directly in her mouth! Oh how I have enjoyed these past 4 months, being able to watch my little girl grow, develop her adorable personality and make my heart melt every single day. We had a great time at Long Beach, Emily loved being on the windy shores of the Pacific Ocean. Emily is now wearing 6-9 month clothes!! WOW!! We are excited for Fall and the Holidays that are quickly approaching! Looking forward to creating our family traditions with Emily and spending some quality time with one another.

As for us moving back to Puyallup, that is still in the works. Looking to renting out our condo after the first of the year and still looking for that perfect home for our little family. I can't wait to be closer to everything and everyone!

Good Morning!

It's 4am and I roll over to listen to the Baby Monitor on my night stand. I can hear playful coos and cries, as i throw my legs over the edge of the bed and mutter to myself Can't-somebody-teach-this-kid-to-sleep-in-what-do-I-have-to-do-to-get-some-sleep-around-here-sheesh---" I crack open the door and see...

that smile.

Sweet baby smell

I often spend my days planning what I will be doing in the next several hours, days, weeks months. Coordinating schedules with friends, family, outings with Todd and Emily. I found myself never really just sitting and taking in the moment, because I was never really forced too. I am always going, and trust me having a baby has not slowed me down a bit - Emily is my little shopper and traveler, wherever I go, she comes along with me. Because of this she has learned to love her car seat and can fall asleep at the drop of a hat in any given location.
This past week and weekend I have had a cold/virus turned to pink eye/strep throat that has slowed me down. I think it has been a blessing in disguise because I have really had time to enjoy my home, my husband and my Emily. God has given my soul such REST, I used to feel overly tired and now I am feeling my body being re-charged.
We gave Emily a bath tonight, her smiles and coos never get old. She loves splashing the water with her feet and hands, she doesn't realize she is making the water splash, but whatever she is doing, she knows she likes it! After I dried her and her hair we sat in the rocking chair and read our stories. She slowly drifted off to sleep with her sweet-smelling head resting on my shoulder, I found myself breathing her in with a new found thankfulness. I never thought I could find so much joy in putting my baby to bed.

Adventures with a 2 month old

Baby Shower with WWU gals

Emily with her Great Grannie and Grandpa

At Grandparent's 50th Anniversary Party

Our little travel baby! Happy to be in Vegas!

A Day at Point Defiance Park

We can not believe that August is already here! We have had a very eventful summer, full of lots of "firsts" for our little Emily. We took Emily on her very first flight, as we traveled to my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary/family reunion. Emily was a wonderful traveler, and got lots of compliments on what a good baby she was. I was very proud and thankful to have such an easy going baby while on the road:) We spent a lot of time relaxing with family, and Emily's Pappy and Grammie were able to watch her while Todd and I explored St. George and all the wonderful things it had to offer! Todd's parents were also able to make it to the party and we got to spend a full day of shopping and driving through town with them. Emily loved riding in the golf cart, and being carried in the front pack by Pappy.
Emily has found her hands and will not keep them out of her mouth!! She tracks them with her eyes and follows them all the way into her mouth, I have tried to take out her hands and replace them with a pacifier but she just spits it out and puts her hand right in. She rarely takes a pacifier, and I am fine with that! One less thing to have to wean her from. She also is more interested in books...any books with bright colors and sparkly objects! Sometimes while she is sitting up in her boppy I will prop a book up next to her and she LOVES looking at the pictures!
Emily and I also attended a Baby Shower in her honor, hosted by my friends from Western Washington University! It makes me so happy to have so many friends who love Emily, lots of Aunties to love!
We are planning a day trip to Cannon Beach, and a weekend trip to Long Beach with my parents over Labor Day weekend. It's been a fun summer, but I am also looking forward to all the fun festivities that Fall brings!