7 months and counting

Reading

Took off her own sock and wearing Star Wars shirt

Clear picture of her 2 bottom teeth

Touching her teeth with her tongue? Eating snot? Who knows? :)

7 months with Pooh Bear

Where do I start? Everywhere...that is where Emma is going! At least in the living room.

She can sit unassisted really well. She also gets around by a couple different ways other than rolling. One is scooting on her bottom while pushing with a leg she has bent back. The other way is "army" crawling with her arms. Recently she has started using her legs to push herself forward too. Emma sometimes gets up on her arms and knees and rocks back and forth also. Any day now she will be crawling.

She just recently pulled herself up to the side of the couch too. Uffda!

She still only has 2 teeth but we think she is teething. Biting while eating was and sometimes is an issue. She's learning not to do it.

Emma girl likes to play peek-a-boo. She has started covering her own face while we say "where's Emma?" and she looks and we say "peek". So fun!

She loves playing and chewing on tags on her toys or anything. Also drawstrings on sweatshirts or pants.

Emma has a mind of her own. She wants what she wants. Very determined.

She is currently sick with a cold again. A couple of weeks ago she had a low-grade fever one evening and a cold for a couple days. We thought she might have been teething because it didn't last very long. This one hasn't been a week but she is congested. Runny and stuffy nose and coughing.

I almost forgot that we have started her on "solids". We gave her some rice cereal with breastmilk first. It was pretty runny so she did fine with it. We thickened it a little later on. Then we gave her carrots from April's garden at the farm. I don't think I pureed them well enough. She kind of gagged. I mixed them with rice cereal and water and she did ok.

Next we gave her canned pumpkin. She liked that. She loved to grab the spoon. We saw her baby tantrums when we wouldn't let her have the spoon.

Then she absolutely loved the acorn squash from April's garden. Emma also enjoys mashed banana. These 2 foods are when we noticed that she says "mmmm" while she's eating.

She hasn't been too picky or messy. That time will come I'm sure. Emmitt will enjoy anything that she "drops" on the floor.

Emma will gag if there is too much in her mouth or she is sick and has phlegm which makes it hard to breathe and eat.

We tried the sippy cup but she does better just drinking out of a cup the regular way with our help of course. Eventually the sippy will be for cleanliness sake.

I have an ice cube tray with a lid that I freeze her food in. After they are frozen I put them in ziploc bags. I thaw a cube to feed her. Sometimes Emma will eat the whole serving but usually half or a little more than half at a feeding. We usually feed her while we are eating at the table at suppertime.

6 month old Dr. appointment

Emma did great at her check-up. She loved grabbing the paper on the table while we changed her and at the stethoscope and name badge while Dr. Greek examined her. She cried when getting her shots of course.

She weighed 19 pounds (90th %ile) and 26 inches (75th %ile).

He said her infected ear (left) looked really great and was healing quicker and better than he thought it would in this short amount of time.

They even gave her a board book of sleeping babies. Fun! Plus, no shots next time (9 months)! Whoo!

And we got the go-ahead to start some rice cereal...and then onto fruits and veggies. Yay!

6 months old

Baby's 1st Christmas porcelain Hallmark bootie ornament from Grandma Selfridge

Christmas dress from Grandma Lala and Papa James

Emma loves balancing on her belly when she wants to get somewhere. She is learning that it gets her the opposite!

In her highchair from Auntie Rachael and Uncle Rob for the first time.

Wow, Emma is half a year old. She is doing so much more than she was. Plus, she celebrated her first Christmas.

Emma can now roll from her back to her belly. It took about 2 months from when she rolled from belly to back. She can also sit unassisted. Both of these skills were mastered while we were in Williston for Christmas. She got her first tooth (bottom left) December 15 or 16 and her second one right next to it January 2 or 3. Now she cannot suck on our fingers anymore. They are sharp!


She has great hand-eye coordination and dexterity. She loves reaching and grabbing everything: toys, my hair, glasses, Emmitt's ears and hair. She loves tags and little flaps on toys or books. It is funny to watch Blake hold her sometimes because she wants the TV remote and the newspaper: both things that he doesn't want her to have.

Notice her nose and upper lip are black from the newspaper!

Emma Joy can move from sitting to her belly sort of smoothly. She is getting frustrated that she goes backwards when she wants to go forward (although we notice that she is forward in her bed). She uses her arms and legs to move in a circle. She is very determined.

The other day I had shut off a toy that played music and sounds when I needed to make a call. I forgot to turn it back on when I was done with the call and she fussed and batted at the toy until I turned it back on. Now we need to learn some sign language and/or words!

For Christmas she received clothes, books, and toys. Lots of socks per my request! Emma doesn't understand gifts yet of course but she wanted to put the tissue paper, wrapping paper, and gift bags in her mouth. Next year should be a little more interesting! She also received some feeding items.


Now that she is 6 months old as of January 8 we were going to start feeding her some solids. That is being postponed because she got sick a couple days after we arrived home from Williston.

She had a fever but that went down and stayed down after a dose of Tylenol. This cold was a bit different than the other ones she's had. Not only the fever but her nose ran more than just being stuffy. She sounded more congested and her coughing would wake her up and keep her up. Plus, she had worse spit up (projectile), possibly vomit. Other colds she would lay horizontally in my arms if I slept with her in the recliner in her room. This time she couldn't stop coughing unless she slept sitting up on me in the recliner.

Emma started cocking her head when she would look at us. At first we thought that it was sweet. I decided to look it up and it could be nothing or one of several things. So, we decided to take her to the doctor. She had an ear infection in her left ear. Poor baby! She was prescribed Amoxicillin. She hasn't had any other reactions to it other than more messy diapers. Dr. Greek said she kind of has a croupy cough and mucous in her chest that if it is pneumonia the antibiotic should take care of it. She has been a trooper taking the pink stuff from a dropper. She has the classic faces due to this being her first taste of something cold and not breast milk or Tylenol. Sometimes I wonder if she gets a brain freeze! :)

Recently Emma has started moving her legs when she is in a sitting position when music is playing. I noticed it when she was playing with a toy that sang the alphabet. I've noticed it when she hears commercials or when we sing now too. In the following video she "dances" to a different toy that Grandma Pat and Grandpa Arden got her for Christmas.

Miss Emma is an observer. She has been extremely interested in watching us eat, talk, and looking at us while we are reading to her.

We are so thankful for our baby girl. We can't stop snuggling and kissing her. Recently, Emma has started "kissing" me back. I will kiss her and she'll put her closed mouth on my cheek. So sweet. Blake's beard may be a bit scratchy for her!

Her hair is starting to grow back too. What a cold time to have less hair!

She smiles all the time but it takes A LOT to get her to giggle. Here is Blake chasing the dog with Emma in his arms. She giggles. Enjoy!

5 months old

Emma weighed 18 lb. 1 oz. on Dec. 8 when she turned 5 months old. Time is going fast now. She is learning new skills every day. She still rolls from tummy to back but not back to tummy. I think she realized that once she is on her back she is stuck there so she doesn't do it all the time.

She has been practicing different sounds. It started out as a sweet "haaa, haa" for a few days, then a deep "huuuh, huuh", then a really high pitched squeal. We heard each of them often. We prefer any of them over the high pitched one. She does all of them now. It will be fun when she starts saying sounds like "ba" or "ma" or "da".

She has giggled but it takes a lot to make our little one giggle. And we try. Here is a video of me trying to get her to giggle. She does eventually. Be patient :)

Emma is wanting everything now. I can't drink or eat anything without her grabbing for it. One of her favorite "toys" is an empty water bottle. She also likes newspaper or any paper for that matter.

She seems very interested in food. Plus, she is almost sitting up on her own. These are 2 suggested requirements before starting solids. We plan to start her out on rice cereal in January when she is 6 months old.

She has been cranky and drooling and putting everything in her mouth. She sucks on her pointer/index finger instead of sucking on her thumb. We think she may be teething. Her bottom front gums are hard and she likes frozen teethers or my finger rubbing her gums.

Our little cuddle bug sleeps through the night a few times a week. Sometimes she wakes up every 2 hours, sometimes every 4. Other times a 5 hour spurt. Recently she slept an 8 hour night. Yay!

Miss Emma wiggles her feet almost all the time. She likes to look at them and is noticing her hands more. Not only looking at her hands but noticing what they can do and what she can make them do.

Our baby girl loves the dog, Emmitt. She is learning to pet him. She also likes to poke his eyes and pull his ears and hair. He takes it well. He loves licking her hands when we let him. Here is a video of them having "fun".

Emma has a bit of cradle cap so we are working on that. A lot of her hair has fallen out other than a thicker area at the nape of her neck. It is starting to come back now, so it will be fun to see the color and thickness. Both Blake and I have thick hair. She still has blue eyes.

Her chin and cheeks have turned red. I thought maybe she was getting dry skin from drooling. I'm not sure. I've been reading about Fifths Disease too. She seems like she had some of the symptoms of either that or teething. So, as a mom I have learned to say a lot, who knows!?

Our little one seems to want to get places. She is doing pre-crawling movements so we better start childproofing the house!

Girl of many "words"

4 months photo with Pooh Bear

I realized I have not taken very many photos of her lately or video either. She has done so many new things. Grandma Lala and Papa James were here to see many of her developments. She started reaching and grabbing things with more force and bringing them to her mouth. She talks A LOT. Such a sweet sound. She went that week without rolling over though. But finally, this past weekend she rolled a couple times for Blake to see. Sweet!

Nov. 12 Blake and I went to Riverside Christian School Banquet. My mom came to babysit. Thank you so much. We had fun eating a good meal and hearing the kids choir, other speakers, and laughing at Ken Davis. Emma and Mom did great for the first time being left.

This past week I found that it is one of the worst things to be sick and a mom. Worse is being sick and a mom of a sick baby. I had a fever but she did not. Yay! I'm still coughing a little. She never got over her cough from her last cold but it worsened with so much phlegm that came with this particular cold. Her left eye got runny and gunky again, but seems to be better. She needed lots of extra cuddles. We slept in the rocker/recliner in her room a couple nights. Her voice was hoarse too. So sad and pitiful. It seems like we're both on the mend now though. She slept in her bed from a little after 10pm to almost 10 this morning. She woke up to eat at about 2 and 4. Not bad. She seems better. Through it all she usually was pretty happy and smiley. She did finally do a little giggle this past weekend. Another sweet sound that she won't do very often even though her face looks like she's giggling.

Emma loves to balance on her tummy. She looks like she is swimming...kind of. heh! She also can turn all around. If we lay her one way, she will move until she is facing another way and can make it all the way around on her tummy. She looks like a slow version of a spinner from a board game. She is getting quicker at it though. Soon she will be more mobile than I realize. Get out the baby gates!!!

Here is a video of Emma trying to crawl over the boppy pillow. She usually likes doing this over my leg. She got pretty frustrated after I stopped videoing. I think it was too slippery. Usually she'll get her head onto the floor and then not know what to do. Funny!

4 months old

Emma's 4 month old appointment was on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009. She was 17 lbs. (95th percentile) and almost 25 inches in length (80th percentile). Big healthy girl! She checked out fine. She also got shots. She did well. Of course, she cried. She has done pretty well with it other than some fussiness.

Emma has still been sleeping well during the night. Dr. Greek said that was great because his kids didn't sleep through the night until they were about 9 months old. We weren't even really trying to get her to. I was just glad she was napping and sleeping at night in her own bed.

She has been "talking" a lot these past few days too especially when she wakes up or first sees one of us for the day, like when Blake comes home from work.

Emma also reaches for things she wants to grab and bring to her mouth.

She squeals and smiles with her whole body.