Grammy and Poppa's with Sam

We spent the week surrounding Memorial Day in St. Louis with Uncle Andrew, Aunt Abby, Sam, Grammy, Poppa, Tante Janet and Uncle Randy, Uncle Rich and Uncle Ben. It was a great trip. We were able to take advantage of free babysitters to go out to lunch and enjoy time together with family. Aunt Abby and I even got to have Starbucks several times without thinking about the kids!!! What a treat! More than anything I am so thankful for such a wonderful family that is so close and loves my daughter so much. It is overwhelming to realize how much she is loved. We already miss everyone very much and can't wait to see them again soon. Most of all we hope to see Aunt Erin very soon since she couldn't be with us.

It was so fun to have more time with Tante Janet!

Sammy is a snuggler and nothing makes Aunt Becky happier than when Sammy wants to snuggle!!! Did I mention that I love this little guy SO much?!!!

Emma just loves Uncle Rich. We are so thankful to have seen him twice in the past two months.

Tante Janet, Uncle Randy and Emma Kate

Grammy's little girl!

Grammy's little boy!

Uncle Rich was so thrilled to see Sam after such a long time!

It was wonderful to have so many people that wanted to help take care of Emma and so special to see how much they love her.

Emma enjoyed lots of quality time with Tante Janet. We wish she could spend that time with Emma every week!

For his birthday Poppa's staff gave him two swings for the yard. The little ones loved swinging and having lots of people cheer for them and make silly faces at them.

Grammy and Poppa took the kids on walks around the neighborhood in a double stroller. Boy did this make me glad I don't have twins.

All clean! Emma has a Duck towel at Grammy's.

Uncle Randy came all the way from Denver at the end of the trip to meet Emma! Thanks for making the effort at such a busy time, Uncle Randy!

These two little ones definitely did not lack attention.

Emma loves her Uncle Ben!!! We sure did miss Aunt Erin and hope to see her soon.

Emma learned how to give kisses while we were gone. She was obsessed with giving Aunt Abby kisses on her nose. One of the greatest moments of my life was when Emma turned to me and gave me a kiss all by herself. It was wonderful!

I just love him so much...he is the most precious little boy! He LOVES to play with blocks and trucks. Emma plays with dolls and people. Emma did not touch a single one of his trucks the whole time.

I looked over at Emma and she was waving to everyone in the room...she is practicing her princess wave. She enjoyed all of her time with Poppa and even cuddled with him several times.

We tried to get a picture of Great Grandma with both kids...you can see how that turned out!

Getting ready for the pool...Emma has her cover-up on and Sam was showing her how to roll the ball back to Uncle Andrew.

Sam is Aunt Becky's "Little Sack of Sweet". I could just eat him up and could not get enough of him last week. I miss him so much.

Pool time was a great success and so much fun for the kids. They played for 45 minutes with the ducks and measuring cups.

We were able to put the pool on the screened in porch...no bees or sun...what a great place!

He is just the sweetest thing. I could just scoop him up and kiss him to pieces!

The air conditioning was broken for the first three very hot and humid days we were in St. Louis. The kids played in diapers all day. Emma loved to play with the xylophone. You can see the hammer in her hand. They played very well together.

Uncle Andrew is a circus!

Emma took lessons from Sam on how to play alone. He plays alone for an hour and as long as he was playing next to her, Emma was happy to play with toys. As soon as Sam went away, Emma wanted to have someone pay attention to her. I told Aunt Abby that we may have to rent Sam out on an hourly basis.

The roses were beautiful.

Emma is again playing with a blade of grass. Sam wasn't too sure about the grass...it was hot and the grass was rough.

Here is a video clip of the kids in the pool...so fun!

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.