Happy Hanukkah!

Happy holiday season!  Emma enjoyed her first Thanksgiving in Vermont and New York City.  She ate turkey, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes.  She now has met (almost) all of her family now and she's loving every single one of them.  Emma had her first plane ride to NYC....scroll down to see her plane experience. You would have never known she was in an airplane.  She got to play with her cousins again and she got lots of new toys.  

It's hard to believe Emma is almost 9 months old.  She is 38 weeks old, which means she has been with us 2 weeks longer than she was inside me.  It's crazy to think about! She's crawling everywhere like it's a race, and she doesn't slow down for a second, not even to eat or sleep.  She very interested in food right now, but don't try and feed her anymore-she needs to do it herself.  She's very strong willed and independent; where did she get that from? Her favorite food is little pieces of chicken with pasta and spices.  Just like Mommy :) 

Emma is pulling herself up to stand, walking along things while holding on, and communicating even more.  We know what she wants not only because we know her really well, but because she's really good at letting people know.  She's waving by to people, which is so cute, and she's experimenting a lot more with her voice.  Don't forget the stairs.  She's climbing the stairs, which I caught the first step on camera.  Yesterday she crawled to the top of the stairs all on her own.  Dan and I are both exhausted by Emma's bed time.

Emma went to visit Santa at the mall.  She did okay at first, but then she looked at all the people and the flashing lights, and she started to ball.  We got a cute picture, which I'll scan and share with everyone sometime very soon.

Dan started his new job at the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery (VAMHAR) the day after Thanksgiving break.  He's loving it, but has a much longer commute each day to Montpelier.  We're looking forward to a chock-full holiday this weekend, so hopefully Emma's cold hangs on until after the weekend. 

Thanksgiving in VT

Plane to NYC

Thanksgiving in NYC

First time in Central Park

Playing with my cousin Max before we left.

Plane ride home

Trying some new foods.

Photo shoot I put her through to find the one for the card (there are 125 of them!).

Feeding herself and drinking water from a sippy cup.

First Hanukkah.

Looks like a new toy!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

34 weeks, 7 months is huge!

Seven months has been a big month for Emma.  Functionally crawling, pulling herself up on her knees and feet, first tooth, and now walking while holding my hands as of this morning! She is moving right along. We're excited to see these milestones, however they're all happening too fast.

We're going to experience her first airplane ride on Friday as well....We're flying to NYC for the weekend for Dan's family festivities!

The cats are in trouble now that she can move!

Thanks Wells and Quinn...I crawled in immediately!

This is why Daddy needed to lower the crib!

7 Months (31 weeks)

I've been really busy and skipped a blog post.  This one is just going to be pictures and videos

Trying out my eggplant hat...I kind of like this one.

And my watermelon hat!

I'm always happy!

Pretty eyes

Bath toes are tasty!

Really...I LOVE these toes.

I love my bath every night!

Ladybug by day....

Hot dog by night.

Attack baby...ready to pounce!

Audrey.........................................Emma

   

Just in case you couldn't tell Emma is MY daughter....

She makes this same exact face all the time!

6 months and 3 weeks (29 Weeks)

This past week has been pretty trying with Emma.  She stayed home from day care M-W with a 103 temperature and a heat rash.  Thursday and Friday, she was just plain fussy at day care and at night as well, breaking her wake-free nights just about every night in the past week.  Dan and I are exhausted, to say the least, but it's so hard to be upset when she wakes up with a huge smile on her face and she's laughing.   We just wish the laughs would wait a few hours :).

Emma is still not crawling.  Maybe her being sick put her behind, but she is still so close.  Friday night she was up on her hands and knees rocking like crazy.  We thought that was going to be it, because she moved her arm while shifting her weight, but she just head dove into Dan.  Everyone tells us that we'll wish for the days when you can put her on the floor and leave her alone for a few minutes, but we're so excited to see her crawl!

We ordered our safety gates and got them in this week.  They are pretty funny because they have a cat-shaped hole  cut out so the cats can get in and out of the room without having to jump over the gate! It's been fun watching the fat cat try and squeeze through!

This is a hilarious blog that I follow about a father who dresses up every day when the bus comes to pick his son up for school: Wave At the Bus. It puts a smile on my face every day! If you haven't checked it out, you should!

We went to Sam Mazza's to pick out pumpkins and see the animals (ok, maybe some cider doughnuts as well!).  We got quite a few pictures, so this slideshow took the best of the bunch.  I forgot to say last week not to hit the download button when you're opening the slideshow-I use the free version so there are advertisements while the pictures load.

We didn't get to stay for as long as we wanted because we brought all the necessary things to make a bottle: warm water and formula, but who remembered to actually grab the bottle?  Oh well, the pumpkin in the first picture is the only pumpkin we ended up bringing home.  There's always next weekend!  We got to see Ryan from Guster as well with his baby, which was so exciting!

6 Months + 2 Weeks (28 Weeks)

This weekend we had got to enjoy the summer weather.  We had our swimming class, which was really fun-the regular teacher was back this week so it was much more organized.  Next week we'll have a private lesson since the rest of the class will all be away.  After swimming class we had lunch with Liza, Pat, and Gene and spent some time outdoors.  Sunday we played inside for a bit and then we went apple picking.  Emma got to experience her first  apple, and even though it was quite tart, we think she liked it.  She also tried vanilla yogurt, which she seemed to really like.

Unfortunately Emma was really sick today.  She woke up covered in a rash with a temp of 100.3.  By 10:45 when we were getting ready to leave for the doctor's office (we thought it was an allergic reaction), it was up to 102.8!  She doesn't have anything visibly wrong with her, just a cold, which can cause a fever in babies.  She stayed home today and got lots of rest, and as of tonight, she still has a fever.  She will be staying home tomorrow with Aunt Jackie, and hopefully she'll be back to normal. Poor baby was so sick and tired, she fell asleep face down on her play mat while I took 30 seconds to turn on the coffee machine. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day!

Here's a long video of Emma eating her first bites of yogurt.

Here are some great shots from our apple picking excursion.

At the orchard:

 

6 months and 1 week (27 weeks)

Emma is 6 months and one week old this week.  We keep waiting for her to crawl across the room-she's so close and wants to do it so bad!  Changing her now is a two person job, or an on-the-floor job.  As soon as we put her down, she rolls right over onto her stomach.  The days of hating tummy-time are over, so now she hates being on her back.  When she's on her back (if she doesn't roll over) she is trying to sit up.  She has the strongest abs and gets up pretty high before she decides that it's too much work for her stomach.  Speaking of stomach, I have been late every day this week because Emma has decided to save her explosive poop for the minute we're ready to walk out the door.  How are you supposed to get anywhere on time when it's coming out of either end at any given time?

The pictures in this week's slideshow include her wearing pajamas to root on the Yankees, playing with one of her new toys, almost crawling, modeling her awesome Batman shirt, and sleeping in the car on the way home from day care (she pulled the hood down over her face!).

Here's hoping to good weather this weekend so we can go apple picking to make some homemade apple sauce for Emma.

6 Months Old (26 Weeks)

This past week Emma had her half-birthday.  It's hard to believe that she is 6 months old! She started to eat apple sauce and rice cereal again, and this time it's been a success.  She just wasn't ready at 4 months, and we didn't want to push it.  She is really involved in grabbing the spoon; the doctor said that as soon as she can sit up on her own, we can start giving her soft finger foods since she is very independent and wants to do things on her own (I have NO idea where she gets that from).

Emma can start using a sippy cup and drink water as well-we ordered the sippy cups that have a nipple, and the company we ordered her bottles from make a conversion kit to convert the bottles to sippy cups so we don't have to spend a ton of money.  Emma also tried peas for the first time today, which was not as popular as the apple sauce and rice cereal.  We have to keep exposing her 10-15 times before she really forms an opinion about it, but right now, her opinion is yuck!

Emma had her 6 month shots and the Flu Shot, which affected her the same way her 4 month shots did.  She was very fussy and spiked a fever at day care, so she had to go home Wed. and stay at home on Thursday as well.  I left work Wed., Liza played with her Thursday morning, and Dan was with her Thursday afternoon.

We're loving the swim class on Saturday mornings.  Unfortunately the other mother in the class is crazy and judgmental, so we won't be hanging out with her anytime soon.  I get stuck talking to her about day care, cloth diapers, and baby food, while Dan and Emma sneak away and swim around.

It's public knowledge now, but Dan god a new job!  He's starting to work full-time as the director of Camp Daybreak and the Vermont Association of Mental Health after Thanksgiving.  This is a big change for him, and I'm so proud!

We're looking forward to some apple picking next weekend if the weather's good!

I forgot about this video...it's pretty long but it's so cute!

5 Months & 4 Weeks (25 Weeks)

Emma is 5 months and 4 weeks old today, or 25 weeks old.  Today just happens to be Dans birthday as well!  This past week has been a little bit crazy so we missed out on a 24 week post.  Emma has been doing great at day care.  She had a stomach thing when we switched her formula (it's included in the tuition), so we  had to switch her back and have her pediatrician write a prescription for her regular formula so that it could still be included in the tuition.  Apparently she can't handle regular formula and for now still needs to be on the anti-spit up recipe.  She could keep anything in her from either end for that week, so we're glad we switched her back.

Every day that I've gone to pick Emma up from school, I walk in the room and she's playing on or with some toy, and she doesn't stop when I walk in the room.  I have to say her name a hundred times and get down in her face for her to realize that I'm there.  When she does acknowledge me, I get the biggest smile that just melts my heart.  I hate leaving her every day.  People keep telling me that it will get easier, so I hope it does.  I haven't continued to cry, but every second of the day I'm counting down the minutes until I can leave to go pick her up.  In a perfect world, I'd be able to work half days and spend the rest of the day with her.  If only we could afford it...

Last week we visited my grandparents, Emma's great-grandparents.  They're getting ready to go to FL in a month or so, so we decided to visit them by ourselves before they left.  Emma put on quite the show for them, even though she didn't feel well.  It was a great time and they loved seeing her.  My grandfather actually held her this time, since she's a little bigger now and he can't "break" her.

Emma picked up her first cold at school last week.  She's been sick for a week now, and she doesn't seem to be getting any better.  It started with a runny nose, and now it's turned into a cough and wheezing.  We're freaked out that it's something bad, so we're going to bring her to the doctors just to be safe.  I'm sure she's fine but better safe than sorry.

This weekend we had a little gathering for Dan's birthday.  We had some friends and family over, and it was a good time.  I made Cookie Monster cupcakes and there was a TON of food.  Dan got some cool presents, but he really wants Emma to crawl for his birthday.  She is so close; she gets up on her hands and knees and sticks her butt up in the air, and she pushes herself backwards.  She's only got a whole day to get it down, so she'd better practice at school today!

One of her favorite things to do right now is sit and watch the turtle (and grab her feet and suck on her toes).

Dan's birthday cupcakes.

He asked for cold, hard, cash to buy an iPhone, so that's what he got!  It's frozen in tupperware :)

Modeling her Magic Hat outfit that Adrienne gave her.