Doctor Visit

Emma went to the doctor this morning and she is now 15 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) and 27 in long (off the charts) and her head is 42 cm (75th percentile). She got her next round of shots and charmed the office staff with her smiles and impressed them with her strength. We will start her on cereal tonight and I will post a video this weekend! We are SO blessed to have a healthy and thriving daughter!

This picture was taken last night. I was cleaning up from dinner and walked out to get the rest of the dishes and saw Mike laying on the floor reading The Rainbow Fish to Emma. It was so sweet!

The video clip is of Emma trying to go to sleep in her crib. All I could see down the hall was her grabbing her feet in the air so I tried to get that on video but instead caught her with Duck on her head and loving on George. The best part is in the beginning I just don't know how to edit out the end yet!

Four Months Old

Happy Four Month Birthday, Emma! Here are some pictures to show Emma's size and growth now that she is four months old. She was so squirmy and I was not able to get the pictures I had hoped for but these are very cute! I tell more about the drama of taking these pictures in the video at the end of this post. (Her eyes are blue although you cannot tell with the dark backdrop.)





Emma turned four months old today. It is amazing how fast those four months have gone. We celebrated the day with Emma's first cold (thankfully it is not a bad one). I am loving being home with her each and every day and am so thankful the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity. With that said, this has been so hard and we are going through some great challenges with Emma right now with sleep and crying fits and mood. She is not what you would consider an "easy baby"...not even close. That is especially tough for me as I work through those challenges day in and day out and we have regressed far more than we have grown in so many areas. I am anxious to hear the pediatrician's advice on Thursday. Mike and I are continually amazed at how much we love her and cherish her. She is such a joy and blessing to us!

At four months old Emma is...

...rolling over all the time from her back to her tummy. She is just now figuring out that she can also do that in the crib.

...sleeping with her face against the bumper pad with Curious George's foot in one hand and duck in the other.

...playing with her feet all the time.

...playing in the megasaucer.

...picking up toys and putting them in her mouth.

...giggling (and coughing out of excitement) all the time.

...sucking on her fingers (and pacifier...yes, I did say pacifier...it made a comeback after two weeks without it) all day long.

I will post an update on Thursday after we go to the doctor and officially know how much she has grown.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Mike and I are trying to remember and record some of our favorite things Emma does. We find ourselves saying "You know what Emma hasn't done in a while..." and we realize that behavior is gone and replaced with a new one. So, I am trying to keep a list of her cute behaviors so I can always remember them. Here are just three of my favorites right now...

1. When she gets excited she coughs...it is a short dry cough but she does it every time she is excited.
2. When she is playing with a toy she likes she puts it up to her mouth and pulls her legs up to her chest (this often results in her rolling over as well).
3. When Emma gets a hold of a stuffed animal, she coughs and then bites it to show her excitement.

I got a video clip (see below) of her doing these things (except the cough...we will work to capture that)...

Here are some pictures from the past few days...enjoy!

Emma learning to sit up in the Bumbo seat.

We have been pacifier free for 10 days. Emma gave the cues that she didn't "need" it anymore and after over a week of watching her cues, she is doing really well without it and doing better sleeping at night.

Playing with Mommy...

Its Emma's Way or No Way

This is the lesson we are learning about our precious daughter. She does things in her timing and when she is ready, not a minute sooner. She is hilarious and her independent personality makes us laugh (and also scares us a little to think of what is in store). We, of course, have been watching all of the milestones that Emma is achieving and realized that she had NO interest in rolling over. As some of our friends with babies her age started to roll over we wondered when Emma would choose to do so. We knew as soon as she decided to she would do it. Over Christmas Poppa and I worked with her on playing on her side and helping her roll over and she finally started to roll to her side. I just figured that was the first step and she would do that for a while. Yesterday she stayed with Aunt Amy so I could go to an appointment and when I got back she was playing on the floor with Londy and the next thing I knew she rolled right over. I thought I must have imagined it but she did it three more times. It was so exciting! Amy was quick enough to get the camera and capture the moment and the boys enjoyed seeing her do it for the first time. The best part of the story is the fact that Emma rolled from her back to stomach. Most babies do it in the other order and it takes till closer to five months to go from the back to stomach. Again...she does things her own way! She still has NO interest in going from her stomach to back although she hates to be on her stomach. We will see what happens next...enjoy the video!

Since this morning when I started this post, Emma rolled over the other way. We also managed to capture that and her giggling on video.

Emma Rolling Over Back to Front



Emma Giggling

Emma Rolling Back to Front



I had to add this picture b/c I think William could be Becky and Mike's son....at least he gets to be their godson. (from Amy)

Christmas at Grammy and Poppa's

There is so much to share that I don't know where to start. We had a great trip to Grammy and Poppa's for Christmas. We were able to be there for a full week and Emma did great, although we started to see the effects of her being out of her routine and surroundings by the end of the week. While we were there she started talking nonstop and is now rolling onto her sides and scooting around in circles while lying on her back. She was so sweet and I just wish I could capture it all and share it with you. I did try to get some video of her but she is so distracted by the camera that she does nothing but stare at it. I got one video of her in the car on the way home as she was playing with her toys, talking, yawning and chewing on her hands. We also took lots of pictures (surprise!). The only downside to the trip was that Emma decided to experience life at all hours of the night. I spent many hours with her and now that we are home we are going to try and straighten that out. Enjoy the video and the pictures.

Christmas at Grammy and Poppa's

Emma's First Christmas

We had so much fun celebrating Christmas with Emma today. Even though she is just 3 months old, we enjoyed the excitement of gifts and the promise and hope that Christmas brings to us. I have included two Picassa albums. The first is of Emma opening presents at home in the morning and the second is of Emma at Nana and Papaw's house with Sarhea. Mike also did a photo shoot of Emma there...which means there are a zillion pictures but you can skip them if you would like to. I put in lots of captions so if you view it in a slideshow you can also read about the pictures. We leave in the morning for St. Louis and will post pictures from our time there as the week progresses.

Emma's Christmas Morning

Christmas at Nana and Papaw's

Christmas Preparation

Here are some pictures of Emma making Christmas cookies with Grammy. Grammy spent the night on her way back to St. Louis from Pittsburgh and was able to enjoy some time with Emma.


The next picture shows Emma on her play mat. Notice how far away the pacifier is. She spit it out of her mouth and that is where it landed...pretty impressive!