Clacker .. . it's a family affair

I found a cool modern wooden clacker/walker on craiglist that I just couldn't resist. It is absolutely beautiful. It has two woodpeckers that rotate that make a woodpecker clacking noise when pushed. It also has an adjustable knob so we can customize the speed in which it moves. Em is no where close to moving on her own . . . but we thought we'd try it out. Apparently it's a family affair. Truman and Tucker insisted on supervising. I wonder if they thought Brian would drop the baby.

side note: our dog's are shedding like mad beause of the 90-100 degree temps and these were taken pre-daily sweep.

There's a baby in my pool

We pulled the dog's baby pool out of storage a few days ago, when Seattle reached a whopping 90 degrees. All three of my dogs have their own opinions on what to do with it. Mazie LOVES the pool. She lays in it. Sits in in. Zips in and out of it. Stands in it barking. Bows. Submerges her head snapping at the water. . .. You know. . .the full dog pool experience. My other two are marginally entertained by it's presense. Tucker will only get in it if he's bobbing for rocks and Truman thinks it's a giant water bowl.

Yesterday while Brian was teaching class I decided to put Em in the pool so I could relax outside. I lathered her up in baby sunblock. Put on her bathing trunks and hat. Dumped and sprayed the pool out. Put clean water in it. And plopped her down in about 2 inches of water.

At first she seemed interested in her experience.

Mazie then realized there was a baby in her pool. She jumped in and I caught this picture. It looks like she's saying. . "what do you think you're doing in my pool"

and just like that Emma was done.

30 minutes of preparation equalled 2 minutes of baby pool fun.

Sleep

Emma's sleep schedule has changed.. . . YET AGAIN.

Somewhere I read that if you put your baby down earlier, they'll sleep later. I thought I'd try it out and it quickly caught on. Emma now goes down around 8 and she sleeps until 6. When she wakes up she gets a change and a snack and she goes back to sleep until around 9. I am now able to shower without an audience and retire the shovel I was using to eat my breakfast at record speeds. Though the new schedule is wonderful, as with everything there is a trade off. . .. because she sleeps more in the morning, so she naps less during the day. . . which means there is less time to get paperwork done at the store.

But then you have to ask, who wants to do paperwork anyway?? Not me!

I got quite a chuckle tonight when I looked into her room to see this.

Complete with ankles crossed. . .

and believe it or not she was out cold!

Playtime!

The many faces of Mrs. Emma Sinclair

Happy!

Inquisitive
Playful

Angry

Silly

Too Cool!

Here she is on Safari . .. hunting large game. . . aka Truman

I dunno, do you think she's dog friendly?

almost!

Mamma said there'd be days like this!

Here's 5 Things I have learned in the 7 months with Emma.

1. Teething sucks. . and just when you think the teeth are about to appear. . they don't.

2. If you think it's out of reach, it isn't.

3. Common household items are much more fun than purchased toys. . .especially keyboards, water bottles, pot lids and wooden spoons.

4. You can never anticipate what your child is going to do nor can you get your child to act on command.

5. Smiles are a way to make you forget all of the bad things that have happened during your day.

Overall Emma is a fairly easy child. . . .but I just saw my life getting MUCH more difficult.

What do you think?

She's pulling herself up .. . .

Even though she's not crawling she's mastered the "inch worm"

I don't know if this a happy or sad face, but it looks marginally evil.
Emma says, "I did it!"

Mom says, "Uh, oh. . . there goes life as I know it!"

Happy baby!

Baby Ergo

Em is too heavy for her Mobywrap so we purchased an Ergo baby carrier.

It's great. It takes the weight off of your shoulders and puts it on your hips. The only downside. . . .its' hot.

We have to strip Em down because she overheats. . ..

Nekkid Em minus the carrier--after a long walk at about 75 degrees.

Look, she's still there!

My little helper

Recently Emma decided that she's too big for her neglectasaucer and now wants to assist in the shop. She wants to stock, unstock, and basically touch everything her little mitts can reach. While I stock cans, I've been letting her "help out" with our sample buckets. She takes them all out. I put them all back in. I really can't complain. .. . it keeps her busy and its easy to clean up.

After sorting through the sample bins. . she brings a few back to her chair. She likes to shake them, and luckily hasn't developed a "taste" for the dog food. . . yet. . .

After sample sorting, she likes to relax on the red couch.

She entertains the customers by blowing raspberries. . .

and clapping.

As you can see there's never a dull moment at the store.

Sharing is Caring

The weather here has been gorgeous, so we took the opportunity to have friends over for a bbq. We pulled Em to the table to eat dinner with us and she got to experience her first grass fed mom-grilled steak and potato-onion packet extravaganza. She ate with vigor and shared gloriously. The dogs were pleasantly suprised by Emma's ability to coat their noses with the mushy goodness and I didn't hear any complaints.

Come here Mazie. . . I want to spread tomatoes on your face.

There's nothing better than potatoes, tomatoes, steak, and cheerios. A combination fit for a Queen!
Hey Truman, clean up my mess!

I've got that dog wrapped around my little finger. . . . .
Thanks mom, that was absolutely fabulous!

New developments

she claps!!

and she dances!

What Emma does at the beach

Eat Sand!

Southern California

Em and I took a mini vacation to see our good friends Kat, Casey, and their daughter Mila. We had a wonderful time. The weather was gorgeous, the beach was perfect, and the company couldn't have been better. The only thing missing was Brian, but with a new job taking more time off didn't seem like a good idea.

Em and Mila hit it off. I think Em is going to miss having a friend closer to her own age.

I love this picture.Em got to experience her first bow thanks to Kat.

Em also got her first wheat teething biscuit. She had a horrible few teething days.. . but still no teeth.

and Em got to go to the beach for the first time. She loved it!