8 Months Old

I cannot believe Emma is already eight months old! She is growing so fast and has changed more in this past month than any before. She is actively crawling and doing her best to walk as soon as she possibly can. Her strong-willed and independent personality comes out more and more each day. It is just so fun to see her exploring new things and the excitement and joy she finds in a blade of grass, a dog, her ducky or the vacuum cleaner. I really don't have words to explain how much we adore and love her and are enjoying her every day!

She is enjoying some new toys that have been passed on to her. She particularly likes toys that she can use to stand by. She has no interest in sitting on the floor and playing. She has the bruises on her head to prove it. :)

I came in to get Emma up from a nap and she was just screaming. She had thrown ducky over the side and was distraught. Later this day she did that with all of her animals. Thankfully we haven't had to deal with this again yet.

I just love her tiny little nose!

Emma picked a blade of grass and proceeded to squeal with joy as she held it for the next 5 minutes. It was very sweet.

On Tuesday we went to the zoo with Aunt Amy, Matty, Will, Sam and Londy. It was a great outing and Emma loved the animals, but she loved the waterfalls the most. The animal that excited her the most was the African Hogs...she just shook and shook with excitement!

This is Emma waving at the monkeys. (Daddy was with us although he was the photographer and did not make it into any pictures.)

Just watching the lions sleeping in the sun.

So cute!

Here is an example of how Emma refuses to sit and play with her toys. She stands up to do everything.

This is the second try on a good 8 month picture outside...not much more successful...

All Emma wanted to do was crawl away.

So we tried pictures on the couch like every other month...not too successful there. She has a clover from outside in her hand. I could not get her to look at me.

All Emma wanted to do was crawl away.

She sat still for one picture. Notice the orange nose. Yellow vegetables will cause that if a baby eats more than one serving a day. Emma gets one or two servings of them a week and is still turning orange.

Check out all of Emma's dresses for the summer!!! It is so FUN to have a girl! We have been so blessed to share clothes from Mariela and Londy! THANK YOU!

So Sweet

Mother's Day with Nana

We spent the day on Saturday with Nana to celebrate Mother's Day and Papaw's birthday. Aunt Sarah, Uncle Keith and Sarhea joined us also for a wonderful meal. Emma enjoyed the doggies and playing with Nana's toys. She also enjoyed using Papaw's hands to play with the toys.




Sarhea continues to grow and is doing well. Saturday is the Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis. Mike, Emma and I will be walking to raise money for a cure for Sarhea. If you would like to donate money please click here http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/BeckyWoods

New Moves

Peek-a-Boo, Daddy!

Emma Kate is SO BIG

Look, Mom...No Hands!!!

Emma is enjoying her alone time in the Pack N Play...she just realized that she can press her face against the sides. I looked over and this is what I saw. I just laughed and laughed.

Emma has had a week of new tricks. She is improving in her crawling, pulling up on anything she can get her hands on, cruising on the sofa, she is saying "bop" (it is SO cute), doing "SO BIG", clapping her hands to make noise, standing by herself for a few seconds and folding her hands to pray (on occasion). We are enjoying so much watching her grow. Right now we are really enjoying her vocabulary development as she adds more syllables to dada and papa-right now she is mastering bop (mama has not yet happened).

This video is Emma pulling herself up in the Pack N Play. I looked over the other day and she was standing. She loves her new found freedom.


Here is Emma playing with her piano. She likes to take our hands and use them to play with her toys (to do things that she is able to do). I asked my friend's mom who is an Occupational Therapist about it and she said that is a characteristic of babies that want to be in control of the situation and their parents (when it is for things that she can do and not to get help with a task). We are working on striking a balance between her using our hands and "Emma's turn". Unfortunately when we remove our hands she throws herself backwards and screams...isn't this too early for temper tantrums? Can you say STRONG WILLED! We love it and all the challenges she brings!

Update on Emma

It has been a while since I have had the chance to update the blog. I totally missed her 7 month posting and finally am able to show some new pictures and a video. Emma is now crawling...her own version which is currently a combination of regular crawling and army crawling. She is waving with her whole hand and clapping all the time. She is standing unassisted for several seconds and all over the place. We are in the process of installing gates and baby-proofing the house. She is just so very precious and we are so blessed to have her!

Emma is practicing crawling on her knees.

Emma is learning how to play by herself and pick toys out of her basket.

Emma loves her sippy cup although we have to help her when the water gets too low and she looks like a baby animal drinking from a bottle.

Thanks, Aunt Abby for the shirt!!!

Emma is super sweet and precious in her PJs.

Here is a video of Emma's "crawling". I took this on Monday morning. It has improved in form and speed a lot since then.

A Visit with Sam

This past weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to attend Sam's baptism. On Thursday Grammy and Poppa came to our house and the next morning the five of us piled into the car and drove to Pittsburgh. We spent the day hanging out with Aunt Abby, Uncle Andrew and Sam. After dinner we all piled back into the cars and drove to Titusville, PA which is Aunt Abby's hometown. We spent the weekend at Dick and Susie Shaffer (Abby's parents) and the Bodamer family (Abby's sister's family) and Aunt Sue and Uncle Ben. It was a wonderful weekend with lots of time together and lots of good food! We were spoiled by the Shaffers and their hospitality. It was very fun to have Sam and Emma together to play. They especially enjoyed playing together with the beach ball...very sweet memories! I have attached a photo album to look through if you are interested. We took over 300 photos so it has taken me a while to go through them all and narrow it down.

Here is a link to the baptism if you would like to watch it. It will be up until Sunday, May 10.
http://www.gbstelevision.com/videos.php

Here is a slide show with a few highlights.

Here is Emma when she first got to play with Sam...true to her personality she attempted to dominate the situation from the beginning.


In this video we were trying to get Emma to crawl. She doesn't do it, but I think the dialogue between adults is hilarious.


Sam and Emma enjoyed playing with the beach ball. You will see Emma shaking at the beginning. That is what she does when she is super excited about something.


Here is more playing with the ball.


Before the church service Sam and Emma were talking, growling and flailing at each other over the pews...very sweet!