Finally An Update

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. With Mike home looking for a job he has the computer all day and this is the first real chance I have had to update the blog. Here are a few pictures from the past week. We had a play date with Sarhea and Aunt Sarah on Saturday and Nana and Papaw visited on Sunday. Aside from that, Emma has a cold and has screamed throughout the night for the past two nights. When I set her down she just screams. It is pitiful. We hope this clears up soon and without an ear infection.

Here is Emma. I put her down so that I could go to the bathroom. Not a happy camper...she is very clingy and whiny. Very sad.

Emma likes sitting in Daddy's chair, although since Emma was born, Mike calls it Emma's chair.

Look at how small she is in this chair!

Emma finally has enough hair that there is something to wash at bath time. Here you can see her wisps of hair sticking up like a baby chicken. You can also see the scratch that she gave herself this weekend under her eye. Her nails are sharp.

Emma had lots of fun playing with Sarhea and sharing her toys.

Emma had to share all of her toys and was not sure how she felt about that. We were so glad Aunt Sarah and Sarhea could come and play. We look forward to doing it again soon.

Six Month Visit

Emma went this morning to her sixth month visit. She is 27 inches long, 18 pounds 7 ounces and her head is 44 cm. She is in the 90th percentile all around. She has started eating solid food. We started with carrots and introduced green beans this morning. Here are the pictures of her trying each for the first time. The carrots were much better received!

Emma was worn out from her shots this morning. She got three shots and one immunization by mouth. It was very sad but she was glad to get into the car and suck her thumb and go to sleep. She was so traumatized by the experience that she even stayed asleep when we got her out of the car.

Carrots...she really likes them.

Green Beans...this will take some getting used to...and some training not to spit them all over herself and Mommy. Emma coughed three times while I was feeding her the green beans and they went EVERYWHERE. Such fun!

Our Weekend

This is Emma Kate getting ready for church. She is excited for Aunt Abby to see all of her bows she is wearing!!! She looked just precious. It is so fun to dress a little girl!

This picture was taken while Emma was focusing on one of her toys. It is her concentration face..hilarious!

This is the first of many unhappy faces from the crib! Mike and I were getting some things done in Emma's room and left her sitting up in her crib. While she was in there she pulled herself up on the side and we looked over and she was standing...soon there will be NO peace around here. A few minutes later we both walked out of the room to get something and when I looked into the room there was her face plastered between the bars of the crib looking for mommy and daddy. It was very sweet!

6 Months Old

It is hard to believe, but Emma turned 6 months old today. We celebrated with Emma's first trip to the mall and lots of time playing together. It is amazing to see how much she is changing. She is such a happy baby and very easy. She is fairly laid back and very animated. She likes to move and is never content staying still...not even to eat. Here are some pictures on her half birthday...we go to the doctor on Monday to see how much she has grown. Here are also some of Emma's changes this month.

Now Emma...

sits up completely alone for long periods of time, lifts the flaps in her books, gives kisses and hugs, reachs for us when she wants to be picked up, eats new foods (carrots), says dadadada and is working on other syllables, responds to her name, feels the touch spots in her books, plays alone with most of her toys and operates them herself, shakes her head in reaction to daddy (or other people), plays at bath time while sitting up, growls all the time, squeals in excitement and drinks water out of her sippy cup and mommy's water bottle and glass.

Emma scrunches up her nose when she is smiling. This is the mid-scrunch shot.

This is the best I could do to show how long she is. She would not stay still long enough to get a good shot.

She is still obsessed with her feet. I could not get her to take them out of her mouth this afternoon. She does suck on her right big toe...completely sucks on it as if it were her thumb. We are still trying to capture that on video.

She continues to have the most precious expressions.

Here she is sitting up.

In this video Emma is giggling. She was on the blanket without a diaper to let her bottom get some air (her diaper rash is flaring up again). She was giggling so hard that Mike and I just laughed with her. Here is just a little bit of that time.

Nana

Nana came to visit last Saturday and spent time with Emma. Emma enjoyed seeing her and playing with her!

The Park

We had beautiful weather today so Mike and I took Emma to the park to swing on the swings. She enjoyed the walk and especially enjoyed swinging without her shoes on. She has a new hat to keep her bald head from getting sun burned. She feel asleep on the way home and then slept on me for a while...what a treat. It was a great day together!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery...

Bath Time Again

We put Emma upright in her tub tonight and she did great! Mike did sit and supervise in case he needed to intervene but she did very well. She enjoyed sitting up (I guess reclining in the tub is far too relaxing for our uptight little girl). She played with her toys and was just precious! It did help that since it is warm outside it is warm in our apartment too and she was not freezing. It is fun for her to move ahead and so sad at the same time.

Home Again

We had the most wonderful trip to St. Louis. It was so great to see Emma with Mom and Dad and to see how much she loves them. It is so hard to be so many miles apart but Emma enjoyed all of her time there. Her ear infections are still plaguing her and she has a horrible diaper rash to go with it, but hopefully we are on the mend. All three of us came down with a nasty cold and are still overcoming that but I think the end is in sight. Here are some more pictures from St. Louis and a few from today back at home.

Poppa made this shirt for Emma for Christmas. She looked very cute in it!

Emma and Poppa spending time together. She loved Poppa's silly noises and games.

Poppa spent lots of time reading with Emma. He especially enjoyed reading her the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and adding the part about Emma being a little monkey that fell out of bed and bumped her head...you will have to read about the next picture to understand this.

Emma slept in her pumpkin seat while she went through the worst of the double ear infection. That was until she managed to throw herself out of it when Mike walked out of the room for 30 seconds before he could strap he in. She currently has a bruise on her forehead and we are still trying to figure out how she landed where she did. She really is amazing and I would put her down in her seat for naps in the living room and she would just suck her thumb, rub duck and go to sleep without a peep...Ah, how far we have come!!!

Mom helped me with bath time one night. Yes, it takes two adults to give Emma a bath. She is so squirmy that it is impossible alone. Mom had to sit down in Grandma's tub so that she could hold Emma and I could wash her. It was pretty comical...Emma loved it!

She is just so cute! She loves bath time!

Emma has mastered the art of sitting up. She is able to balance herself, reach for toys and sit up from a reclining position.

We are borrowing a jumper from the Shorts and finally pulled it out and put Emma in it today. She hasn't quite figured out how to bounce yet, but she did figure out how to spin in circles. We will see how that goes.

Emma got to soak her bottom in the sink tonight. It was her first "bath" in the sink and she loved sitting up and playing with her new tea set from Tante Janet. Mike still had to hold her the whole time because she slides all over still. Her medicine for the ear infection is causing diarrhea which is causing a horrible diaper rash. The pediatrician told us to let it get air and to soak it in warm water. Emma loved both treatments today. She even started to splash...look out!

A Week in St. Louis

Since Mike is currently without a job, we thought we would take advantage of the "vacation time" and visit Grammy and Poppa in St. Louis. I had this trip planned for a while for Emma and I to go visit after Grammy and Poppa returned from Egypt. Aunt Janet was also here for the week. It was such a blessing to have Mike come with us. It has been wonderful to be loved on and cared for all week with great food and help with Emma, especially while she has been sick. It is just so hard for mom and dad to be so far away and the time we are able to be there is just invaluable. It was difficult though because Sarhea, our niece, had surgery while we were gone and it was a struggle to not be there for the procedure to support the family but we were able to keep in touch and the surgery went well.

We were so thankful that Emma "knew" Grammy and Poppa when we arrived. She has started having stranger anxiety at times and it would have been very hard for mom and dad if she screamed at them since they cannot control how much time they spend with her. She sees them every day on the computer via Skype and knows their faces and voices although she does not get to see them very often. It was very sweet for her to remember them when she saw them and obvious that their intentional effort to spend time with her over the distance paid off. After just a very little time of studying faces she was comfortable with Tante Janet and Great Grandma and it has been great for her to let everyone hold her without any tears or drama. It also has been good for Emma to be with people other than mommy since we have been secluded in the house for the past month because of the weather and the increase in sickness going around.

We have had a great time and Mike and I even got to go out on a real date! It was so fun to just enjoy dinner out together and not have to worry about Emma at all. None of us are eager to go home but will have to return some time this week. Here are some pictures from this week.

Great Grandma loves to hold Emma although we have to watch pretty carefully because Emma does not like to be held, especially sitting down. Grandma has been so sweet with her and Emma just smiles at her!

Grammy has enjoyed holding Emma and seeing all of her fun girl clothes!

Grammy has let Emma have lots of time with her "piggies" out of her socks so Emma can play with them. She just squeals when she sees her feet and will not let them go.

Emma is continuing to get stronger each day. She loves tummy time and is interacting and playing with her toys without our help now.

Poppa is so fun! He loves playing with Emma and spoiling her.

Emma was all ready for bed while we ate dinner. She hadn't had a nap and we were concerned that she would fall apart, but she could not have been more content and precious while we ate dinner. She really has become such an easy baby.

Emma sits in her highchair during meals and has a great time watching all that is going on around her. She has been very content to play with a spoon and soak in the attention of everyone at the table.

Tante Janet found this tea set for Emma to play with in the bath tub. It was so fun to have so much time with Tante Janet.

We sure wish we got to see more of Tante Janet. Emma just loved her!

More fun with Tante!

Emma has clearly been the center of attention all week and is loving it.

So Sad

We are in St. Louis and Emma started running a fever yesterday. As the fever climbed and Emma's situation deteriorated quickly, we realized that we needed to get her to a doctor. The Lord was so good in providing a good doctor to take care of Emma. It turns out that she has a terrible double ear infection. Poor little girl. We are thankful for the medicine and are praying she will have a quick recovery. We are, however, enjoying the cuddle time with our normally squirmy girl.