I love swimming and swinging!

Emma absolutely loves water, so we decided to sign her up for swim classes. She loves swimming and being in the water. Every week she has a huge grin on her face for the entire half hour lesson. We were able to get a few photos, but none of them are great. Here is one where she is "swimming" around with her flotation device. 

John also got her a swing for Grandma and Grandpa's house. Now she is just waiting to get sand for the sand box and her playtime for the summer is set! 

Dad and Emma after swinging.

Enjoying a beautiful early spring day. 

Easter

For Easter this year, we went and saw the Easter Bunny at Gerten's. Emma was not too thrilled to see the Easter Bunny as you can tell by her face in the photo below. She didn't dislike the Easter Bunny, but was it was more of a disinterest. This was not the most friendly Easter Bunny either, so perhaps that was part of it.  

Easter Bunny and Emma

After we took some photos with the Easter Bunny, I set Emma on the ground and John was able to catch her in this shot. There really wasn't even anything exciting going on, perhaps she was excited not to be standing near the creepy Easter Bunny. I love this photo because of how unscripted it is.  

For Easter day, we went to Mason City and this proved to be a fabulous day for photos!! Also, I would like everyone to take note that she is wearing a dress on both days of Easter weekend. That was for all of the people in Emma's life who think she should wear more dresses. It will probably not happen again for a while.    

"Now this Easter Bunny I like!" 

"I love my Mom" (yes, I am putting words into Emma's mouth, but I'm sure she would add say this if she was writing out the caption.)

Emma and Kajsa helping blow out the candle for Grandma's birthday. 

Look at them ... aren't they cute!

Slacking ...

I knew when I started this blog that I would not be great at keeping up with regular posts and sure enough this is true. I feel like so much has happened since my last post in March, but in reality not that much has happened.

John and I continue to try everything we know to keep awake during the day, since Emma still refuses to sleep in her crib for the entire night and she still wakes up every two hours or so (even when sleeping in our bed).  I realize that this is abnormal for most people, but it is our normal and we seem to be making it work. Even though, I am not sure how I manage to stay awake some days.

Emma is crawling like crazy and cruising around furniture like a pro. It took her a long time to actually crawl, but once she got it there was not stopping her. I have a feeling it will be this way with walking. She is very sturdy while standing and can move around from object to object, but doesn't really seem interested in walking. When she is finally ready, I am sure she will surprise us all and walk like she knew how to do it all along.

Emma is really starting to enjoy feeding herself even though only about a third of the food gets in her mouth and about half of that ends up in her stomach. I guess that is the way it goes.


The tooth count is 2.25. The front two teeth are in and there is a third one poking through. This has resulted in several nights and days full of tears and obvious pain.

Emma and I get to spend every Tuesday together and we have recently found out how much fun it is to find cheap toys at Once Upon a Child.  Here is a photo of one of our great finds- an activity table for $6.50. Thanks to Aunt Amber for finding it first and showing Emma how much fun it is.

Here are some other photos that I thought were cute and wanted to share: 

"Wearing my seat belt!"

"I am 10 on the cute scale"

Just removing all of the toys from her toy box on Saturday morning. 

 "I love to read, especially from Mom's Nook"

"I also love to pull all of the books off of my book shelf."

7th and 8th Month photos- oh and Mom quit her job!

It has been a month since the last post and I must say that we have been a very busy family in the last month. 

Emma is now 8 1/2 months old and is very mobile even though she refuses to actually crawl. Without crawling, she still manages to turn in circles, move from her stomach to all fours and back to a sitting position. Every time she looks about ready to make that dangerous leap to crawling she gives up and sits back down. We still have some baby proofing to do, so we are okay with her refusal to crawl.

 I officially quit my job at Special Olympics after seven years. It is a fabulous organization and I will miss my wonderful coworkers, the volunteers, and the athletes that I have meet over the last seven years. But this new move will allow me to have time to do simple things like laundry, cleaning, exercise, make a real meal and of course play more with Emma! I think you get the idea that with school, the library, Special Olympics, Emma, Chloe, Toby,  John, etc. there was little time for anything even watching TV. So we decided that I would take the next nine months off to focus on Emma, finish up my masters degree, and work part time at the library. Oh and I guess I didn't really quit ... I am going to work part time for Special Olympics running our Summer Sports Camp until the end of June. I now office out of our house and work when I need to work instead of going into the office for 40 hours a week. Can you tell that I am a workaholic? 

I am so looking forward to this new schedule, which starts tomorrow. Emma and I are going to go to the library for Baby story hour, take a walk around the lake, and start swim lessons this week. What a fabulous feeling knowing that I don't have to be in a cube at 8:00 in the morning! 

 And the reason for this post was to show you her most recent monthly photos. Here are Emma's 7th and 8th month photos: 

 

Intently looking at Mister Giraffe

"I am cute even when I don't have a big smile on my face.  Even with a  small smile Mom and Dad will give me whatever I want!"

Solid Food ...

Six months and Christmas also brought the introduction of solid food. Here are a few photos of Emma as she has her first few meals. She is not the biggest fan of peas as you can see in the bottom photo, but she loves bananas, prunes, apples, carrots, avocados, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal. Next on the agenda are squash and pears.

Family Photos

At Christmas this year, we took family photos. Here are some of the professional photos. 

The whole family.

The three of us.

This was taken as Emma was in mid fall. If you look closer at the two photos she is being supported by a pillow under the grey backdrop.

Funny Emma

Emma deep in thought.

Christmas 2011

Emma's first Christmas was a huge hit. The festivities included a visit to Santa, a couple trips to the mall to do our Christmas shopping, Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa R's house, Christmas at Great Grandma S's house, and finally Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa W's in Des Moines. It was a crazy whirlwind of activity. Here are a few photos from the holidays:

Dad and Emma shopping at the mall.

    These baby strollers come in handy as shopping carts and beverage holders.

Emma visiting Santa.

More presents = more toys!

Cousins!

Sitting at the table for Christmas Dinner.

Emma and Dad reading from Mom's Nook.