New Daycare

Recently we moved Emily to a new daycare that is a little bit closer to my work. We didn't really have a problem with the old daycare, but we also didn't like the "big kid" room she would eventually be moving up to, and when we saw the new place was having "open enrollment", we knew the time was right for a change.

Dropping her off on day one.

We are so glad that we did! We are really impressed with the entire program and we plan on this being the place where Em will be until she starts kindergarten. Plus - this is her face when we got home after the first day.

You can't argue with that!

She has already done her first "art project" at school. They put blue and red paint in a water bottle and let her shake it up to make purple. She was so proud!

This program is Christian based, which is another plus for us. Neither Mikey or I are particularly religious, but we both agree that Emily needs to be exposed to religion and allowed to make her own choices in that regard. Even if you just take them as stories alone, the Bible stories teach kids valuable life lessons. And I loved my youth group experience when I was younger! So building this base for her now is something that we are glad her school can help us with.
Yay for new school!

8 months old!

Emily is 8 months old! Well, technically she has been 8 months old for two weeks now, but whatever. People are busy!

We took her 8 month photos at her Aunt Katie's house while visiting last weekend (yes, we were late on that too.) To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. Again I say WHATEVER! This is how life is with a baby who recently learned how to crawl - she just wants to go go go. Sitting still for photos is for babies! 

So here are a bunch of awful photos that would be a total waste of film if we still used film. *Side note - Emily will never know what film is! She won't ever run around taking shots of trees and other random things just to use up the last few pictures on a roll, then have to wait a few days for her prints to come back just to see if anything on the roll was any good. That's kind of sad when you think about it. 

ANYWAY - here are the shots, which aren't frame-able, but are definitely true to life!

Updates on Miss Em below....

About 3 weeks ago, the crawling thing just "clicked" and she went from rocking back and forth on her hands, to scooting around the room, from one day to the next. Since then, we have been baby proofing like crazy and cuddling away some tears after a few bonked noggins.

She follows us from one side of the room to the other and as soon as we set her down she makes a beeline for the nearest air vent or electrical cord. She will pull herself up to her knees but she has yet to try to stand. I know it is coming any day now!

Emily had her first ear infection this month. Actually, she probably still has it - we are on our 3rd antibiotic right now so hopefully we will get rid of it this time.

She also sprouted two teeth this month! She looks so stinking cute with those pearly whites shining through when she smiles. Teething wasn't so bad with her - maybe a day of whiny-ness, which could have been caused by her ear hurting as well.

At her last Dr. appointment she weighed 17.15 lbs. She still eats pureed baby food - fruits are her favorites! We keep trying other finger foods like cheese cubes or steamed vegetables, but so far she doesn't seem to care for anything with much texture. Except french fries - little lady loves her some fried potatoes. That's my girl!

She is still mostly sleeping well, those she has lately started crying when we first put her down for the night. Usually if she doesn't settle down in a minute or two - and we can tell when she is fussing just to fuss and when she is seriously getting wound up! - we will go get her and let her hang out on the couch with us for a few more minutes. After that, she is ready and falls right asleep when we put her down again.

Yes, we know we are being manipulated but we have decided to choose our battles! Even with this little extra step in the routine, she is asleep by 8pm every night and sleeps straight through until 6am, so we don't really have much to complain about.

I have a ton more pictures to upload, and I got them all on here and typed up a post the other night, and it wouldn't load so I lost it all. I will try again when I have more motivation.

Some upcoming excitement in Emily's life - we start her new daycare on Monday! Emily will be attending Nashville Christian now. She probably could care less, but Mikey and I are excited about the program.

Also, we are taking her on her first plane ride in about a week when we go to California for Mikey's cousin's wedding. Fingers crossed that the ear infections clear up by then, or it could be a very expensive flight after we have to buy drinks for everyone seated around us! Ha!

Here are the photos from her first 8 months:

Lucky Number Seven

Miss Emily Marie is 7 big months old! She continues to be her sweet, smiley, good natured self.
At her last dr's appointment she weighed a little over 16lbs. That appointment was a 3 week follow up visit from her 6 month check up, and she had gained a pound! We had been giving her breathing treatments for 3 weeks and her dr. said her lungs sounded great and we could stop doing them. Good news! She doesn't purr like a little kitten anymore when she breathes!

She is still sleeping like a champ as well. Bedtime is anywhere from 7 to 7:30 and she almost always sleeps until we come wake her up at 6am. She sleeps with her bootie up in the air and in the mornings her little knees are red from holding herself up on them all night. Doesn't look comfy to me, but whatever.

She has mastered the art of barrel rolling and sliding backwards on her belly to get around the room. She is really close to being able to pull her knees up under her and we expect her to get it any day now. The baby gate has been ordered and we are about to create a baby quarantine zone. As I type this, she is banging on the base of the surround sound speaker. Time to start anchoring things to walls!

She babbles ALL the time - mostly Da and Ba sounds with an occasional Whoa thrown in.

And in the past few days we have noticed the faintest traces of her first teeth coming in - just a little bit of white showing under the gums. Can't wait to see that toothy grin!

We were racing against a dying camera battery so we didn't get as many photos this month, but the ones we got are pretty darn cute!

Looking up at her Daddy - so in love!

Moments after this, she leaned too far forward and banged her face in to the crib rails. Mom of the year, right here, people.

Like a true pro, she soldiered on.

Wrangling these two at once is enough to make a saint curse. One is ready, the other one moves. Crazy girls!

Partners in crime!

Too lazy and hungry to post previous month pictures this time. Sorry! Dinner time!

Videos!

Not sure if these videos are working or not, so if they don't play from here, I am also posting links to the youtube version (click on the titles)

Emily eats a puff

Emily speaks

Bouncing baby Emily 

Mush for brains

No, not Emily, me! It has recently, and frequently, been mentioned that I need to update my blog. I mean to write more often, but most days I am so drained by the time that I get Emily to bed that I don't feel like I can put together coherent sentences. I have also been trying to get up earlier to work out - and in this case earlier means 5 a.m., since I was already getting up at 5:30 so that I could get to work by 7:30. So yeah, I'm tired. But enough about me! I know that anyone that is reading this only wants Emily pictures anyway!

At the end of May, we had Emily's 6 month photos taken by our friend Evin. You can see the best of them here - http://evinphotography.com/blog/2013/06/emily-6-month-portraits-at-harlinsdale-farm-franklin-tn/

She was such a good little model! She smiled and put up with outfit changes and was about as cute as can be. I can't decide which ones to order! I think I might wallpaper my house in them.

We took Emily for a walk at a lake near our house a few weeks ago. I think she liked it!

Sophie continues to be a big favorite around here. She is just so darn delicious I guess!

We have a walk in attic upstairs in our house and one day I opened the door to put something away and saw that there were bits of insulation pulled out all over the place. Mikey climbed up there and found this little bird hanging out. He let him go out back, but a few days later we heard him up there again. Silly bird.

Outfit pictures!

Emily is so close to being able to crawl! She can push up on her arms, and she can get her knees underneath her, but she just can't do both of these things at once!

But man you should see her spin in a circle.

A friend found her this little princess car at a garage sale and she seems to like it, even though her feet are no where close to reaching the ground.

 These kids and their internets these days.

 Fathers Day was a good day! Emily and I made her Daddy a funfetti cake, and we got him a golf bag that he picked out. She dressed for the occasion (of course!)

I got him this onesie for Father's Day last year, when we knew a baby was coming, but before it really really sunk in.

In our wildest dreams, we could not have come up with a more perfect baby to wear this!

She is everything we didn't even know we could ask for.

This past weekend we went to Kentucky for a long overdue visit. 

Cousin Ryah read Emily a book. 

Emily was more interested in trying to eat the book, but whatever!

They played all weekend long. Ryah really wants to take care of Emily and she was a big help with changing diapers, feeding her bottles and entertaining her.

Time to swim!

And finally, some pictures I took the past two days that just blow me away by how grown she looks!

She is sitting just like it's no big deal, giving me that coy little smile. 

Such a goofball!

She thought I was going to "get her".

And then Daddy walked in the room..

And that's all for now! I can't promise, but I will say that I will try to update sooner next time!

She will be 7 months old in a few days so we are due for another photo shoot soon.