Who needs toys when you have a BOX?

One good thing about ordering gifts online is all the packing boxes. Instant entertainment for an 8-month old!

 

Rob went to a Christmas party a few weeks back and the gift exchange left him with a Snuggie. Up until now I had adamantly refused to have one in our house, but he brought it home and was SO EXCITED about it, I really had no choice. However, said Snuggie has been banished to his office and he’s under strict instructions to never let it out. Ever.

Anyway, once the box was empty, Emily thought it was the greatest thing ever! Rob plopped her down in it and pushed her all over the living room, and she was giggling like crazy. She never got tired of it, but he sure did! Poor guy was all tuckered out at the end.

“What happened to Daddy?” Haha. :)

8 Month Update!

*This is late getting posted because our power has gone out twice in the last week! It seems like the Seattle area is almost as incompetent with high winds as it is with snow… Awesome. Anyway, sorry for the delay. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Update.*

Our little Punkin is getting bigger by the second it seems! It’s so much fun to watch her change and grow. She’s learning things so fast; as soon as I get used to something, she’s moved on to the next already! It’s always an adventure around our house these days, to put it mildly!

At eight months, Emily…

…weighs about 17 lbs, but I have no idea how tall she is. We go in for our next check-up in January. We’ll find out then! She’s starting to wear 9 and 12 month clothes, and she seems to be longer than a lot of the outfits we have for her. Going to be tall, perhaps?

…almost has her first two teeth! She’s been quite cranky for the last few days, and we can finally see those telltale white bumps on her bottom gums. She is NOT a fan of us trying to check them out, though. No matter how hard I try I can’t get her to hold still long enough to get a look at them for more than a second!  I hope they come in quickly, she obviously doesn’t feel good. :(

…is determined. And stubborn. And knows what she wants, and is learning how to get it. I’m in trouble. Also, thanks to my mom and dad for the well-timed copy of The Strong Willed Child I received in the mail this week!

…IS CRAWLING!! She’s officially, and quickly, crawling all over the house, and even trying to pull up on things already. We got a baby “fence” and have sectioned off most of our (already very small) living room so most of it is now Emmie-town. She loves the freedom to be able to crawl around and go where she wants. And now I can get things done while she plays! YAY! Rob loves coming home to his little Punky-Boo who crawls right up to him for a hug, too. :)

       

…screams at the top of her lungs, a lot. All day long it seems, she’s screaming. At her toys, at me, at the curtains, at her car seat. It doesn’t matter really, if it’s in her sight, she’s screaming at it. My hearing is not loving this.

…has started talking more! She says dadadada and babababa all the time now, especially when she’s happy. No mamamama yet though, of course. She still doesn’t connect the sounds to anything, but it won’t be long I’m sure. And she better say Mama first once she does! Ha!

…tries really hard to make us laugh and smile by giggling and being silly. She gives “kisses”, reaches out her arms to us, and will imitate us a lot of the time when we clap or wave. She started clicking her tongue also, and it’s awesome! She’s very proud of that one.

Emily Marie, you are our little sweetie. You still don’t sleep through the night, but we don’t mind. Every minute we get to spend with you is a great one (even if we’re so tired we can’t see straight!). We have big dreams for you, and can’t wait to see you grow in the coming months and years. Know that no matter what happens you’ll always be our “Punky Boo!” We love you!

There She Goes!

As promised, here is a short video of Emily learning to crawl. It’s from about two weeks ago, and she’s already so much faster it’s crazy! I swear she’s turning from a baby to a little kid already. Sob. :(

Coming soon…

Video! I’ve got a few short clips of Emily that I’ve been waiting to post for a few days now, but my laptop is broken and it’s tough to get it loaded from the video camera.

Don’t fear, though, it won’t be too long before it’s up!

In the meantime, here is a sneak peek from our recent Christmas Card photo shoot. Don’t say I never did anything nice for you.

Stop Stop Stop!

Emily is getting too big. I wish time would just slow down a little! She’s already over 7 months old. Does it always go this fast? Yikes.

Yesterday, she waved bye-bye at Daddy for the first time. It was so great! She looked so proud of herself, giggling and smiling. What a ham.

Also, she’s pretty much gotten the hang of the whole crawling thing. Yep, that’s right. She crawls, people. I AM SO NOT READY FOR THIS.

And she’s getting really good at stealing Dad’s glasses, too!

My Little Onion

(I also posted this on Facebook; sorry about the repeat. I couldn’t help it!)

7 Month Update!

This growing up stuff has GOT to STOP!! Emily Marie is 7 months old now. I feel like she’s all grown up! I see now why people have second (and third, and fourth) babies, because the first ones get big so quickly! Ha.

 

At seven months, Emily:

…weighs almost 16 lbs and is wearing mostly 6 and 9 month clothing. She’s still tall and skinny!

 

…is REALLY starting to “talk” more! She echoes us a lot and mimics our tone of voice and the syllables we say. She is trying to wave and clap, and really studies us now and watches what we do. It’s amazing to watch her learn!

…is becoming mobile! She rolls all over the place now, and can push herself up onto her hands and knees from her tummy. She can scoot backwards if she really tries, but prefers to just roll. She still needs to work on her directions though; most of the time she just rolls and rolls until she gets stuck- she hasn’t quite figured out how to get to where she wants to go yet!

…is still our little Toothless Wonder. She’s doing really well with foods though and is willing to try pretty much anything we offer her. So far her favorites are baby applesauce and toast. Yum!

…is starting to show preferences for one thing over another. She has favorite toys now and really seems to like stuffed animals and soft toys over the hard plastic ones she used to like. Poor Monkey-Do, he’s still taking all her abuse. :)

I’m so proud of you Emmie! You’re becoming your own little person now, and we can really see your (feisty, stubborn, playful, loving) personality starting to show! It’s wonderful to watch you grow and learn, and we are so blessed to have been chosen as your parents. I couldn’t imagine our life without you. You make us smile and laugh every day! We love you, Punkin!!

Better late than never, right?

Yes yes, Halloween was a week ago. Oh well. :)

It’s not usually a holiday we celebrate, but this year we had a good reason! We went to a Halloween party with the Mom’s group, and then out to lunch with a few friends. We also had the chance to dress up and go to a kids group at the church. Emily was, of course, a pumpkin! We had festive shirts too. Fun stuff!

My Halloweenies

At the Halloween party!

With Sherry and her family. Em loved them!

Look at that smile! :)

Other noteworthy events at our house lately: Emily has been trying solid foods! She doesn’t seem to love the pureed stuff all that much (but will tolerate it for a few bites) so we decided to try steamed, soft broccoli and carrots. She didn’t get any eaten, but that’s ok. It was still fun to watch.

Squash is still a big hit!

Helping with laundry! I can’t hardly get a picture of her lately without her mouth wide open. She LOVES to talk! And yell. And scream. I bet our neighbors love us. :P

 

This is what I think of chores, Mom!

I can’t help but look at this sweet face and realize how blessed we are. Even when she screamed for 2 hours because I tried to keep her up late when the time changed for daylight savings. Or when she got up eight (YES EIGHT) times the other night. She’s our little Punkin and we love her dearly.

They say whiskey on their gums helps with teething and makes them sleep, right? RIGHT??? Ok, I won’t go that far, but I might want to. Poor thing is having a rough time with the teeth lately. None have popped through yet but I have a feeling it’s getting close. (Have I been saying that for a while now? Yikes.) Wish us all luck.

She’s a Maniac…

Maaaaaniac, on the floooor! And she’s rolling like she’s never rolled before!

Baby gates, here we come!