0.5 Year Birthday!

Emma is officially 6 months old. Wow, its amazing how time flies. She's certainly coming into her own.. . .and is showing signs that she's going to be one independent lady!

So what is Emma doing now:

1. She demands attention from every customer and now waves and says, "Hhhaaaiii" when people come in. Today one of my customers didn't acknowledge her quick enough so Em started a fake cry, and as soon as my customer turned and looked at her she smiled, laughed, and waved.

2. She's drinking from a sippy cup. . yes actually drinking. She won't drink out of a bottle, but apparently a sippy cup is okay.

3. She blows raspberries.

4. She'll slap your hand if you put it out in front of her and say "Give me some"

5. She loves to hear herself talk and her favorite sounds are, "bah, bah, bah" and "ahhh"

6. She rolls around and pivots herself on the floor to get what she wants.

7. She sleeps 8 hours straight in her own room without waking up.

8. She still doesn't have any teeth and is constantly in pain. . .. . Come on teeth. . make your appearance all ready!!

9. She's a true character and makes us happy!

Hey you sippy cup. .. get in my mouth!

A drink in my chair . . . . .
Blue Eyed Girl

Excuse me. . . could you stop taking pictures now?

No really. . .stop!

Okay if you won't stop. . . here's my model pose. I'm smiling with my eyes. .can't you tell? America's Next Top Model, here I come!

Mariel, is one of Em's most favorite people! Here's her usual response to Mariel arriving.

and here's her gangsta face!

Who needs to crawl when you can roll?

Emma shows absolutely no signs of crawling. She doesn't push up. She doesn't get up on her knees. She doesn't try to move while on her belly. Instead of trying to crawl she found that she can roll from point A to point B. I got two separate videos for each direction, but sometimes, she will continuously roll across the store floor to get to what she wants. I guess this method of locomotion is more fun, right?

Sleep!

We did it. We made the plunge. Emma is officially sleeping in her own room! She took the change much better than I did. The first night she woke up twice, but its been smooth sailing since then. I definitely miss going to sleep hearing her noisy breathing and snoring, but I'm glad to have my room back.

We've been putting her down around 9, and she has been sleeping until 5. At 5, my body says its time to feed (an awful side effect of having a night time feeder . .my body still hasn't adjusted!!) and I've then been bringing her back to bed. I was informed this morning that I need to break this habit too. Little steps dear husband! I'm hoping my body will adjust sooner rather than later and the 5:00 feeding can move to a normal hour. . like 7 or 8.

Food and Trucks

While on vacation Em got to experience the pleasures of food. Chad introduced her to ice cream, Cory showed her the beauty of pineapple, and I let her plunge her little face into watermelon. For those of you shaking your heads, yes I am aware that this doesn't fit the one food a week schedule, but I feel that sometimes you have to go with the flow and let your baby experience life. . . and boy did she love it! And you know me. . .I don't follow rules very well . . ha!

Mmm, pineapple!Give me that, now!!

Em's first watermelon
Gumming it like a pro!

Brian was happy to discover that Emma is fond of things on wheels. . . .even if its used for the sole purpose of teething. . .something is better than nothing, right. He's not giving up home that she will NOT be a girly girl, and will like the finer things in life. . like match box cars and convertibles.

Looks like a truck

Tastes like a truckMust be a truck

Family!

Brian, Emma, and I spent a week in Virginia visiting friends and family. I have so many pictures that I'm going to post them in several blogs.. . . This one is for the fam!

Thank you Chad and Cory for putting us up. . . .and making room in your schedule to entertain us!

It makes me sad that we live so far apart. . .. . but I'm definitely not moving back!

Em chatting with Grandma Judy.

Em and Cory smacking the baby in the table. . . . .Emma was really fascinated by her reflection in the glass table.

Blowing Raspberries

Do I have something on my head Uncle Chad?
Emma was a good sport most of the weekend even though she is teething. She vascillated between gnawing on anything presented to her to pulling her ears screaming uncontrollably. Poor thing. Here she is with Pam cooling her gums on a teething toy.

Showing Grampa Woody how strong she is.

Emma and Oakley sharing a blanket.

Emma says, "Look we have the same hairdo!"

The meeting of the minds. . . .

Apparently Emma didn't like Chad's joke.

Three generations of red heads. . .sort of.

Entertaining my dad.

It took a while for Em to warm up to Chad .. .but as you can see, they became fast friends.

We had a fabulous time! Thanks again to everyone that came out!

Turn around Norman

In the book "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins, there's a character named Turn Around Norman. Turn Around Norman is a performance artist who spends the day on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral turning in circles so slowly that you don't notice he's moving. He does a full circle in a day. . moving right before your eyes . . . . .but he's so skillfull that you don't notice that he's moving unless you take your eyes off of him and look back to see that he's moved.

Brian and I joke that Emma is doing her own Turn Around Norman. Instead of turning in circles, she's growing right before our eyes. We can't see her cells mulitplying but she's definitely getting bigger with every second. When you stare at her . . .. you see nothing, yet you put her down for a nap she's obviously bigger when she wakes up.

I like to refer to her as our mutant baby. She is by far the biggest baby of our baby group's babies, and she's 3 months younger than the oldest. She's almost as big as on of my customer's one year old. All day I get, "How old is she? 10 months?" and my reply of "nope, 5 months," is usually followed by a jaw drop and a "wow!"

Its amazing! and she just keeps growing! She's now filling out her 9 month old clothes, and I don't think she's to far away from the ones marked 12 months! I sure hope she's athletic and can put her height to use!

She may be huge, but she sure is happy!!

Just 4 more days

On the 12th we are going to Virginia to see family and friends. I am really excited for the break and can't wait to see everyone!! This will be the first time my dad and brother have met the little monster. I can't wait! We are going to be gone Tuesday to Tuesday, which is a long trip for us. Thankfully I have good employees so I won't have to worry about the store . . .I have found that good employees are invaluable. . .and I am SO lucky to have them.

A good employee .. . . Emma is not. . . . this is how she spends a good part of the day .. . .sleeping on the job! Sheesh! If she wasn't family (or 5 months old) she'd be fired. . .ha!