Emerson : 8 months

 Emerson has really grown this month!  She is officially into EVERYTHING!  Nothing is safe around our house anymore!! She has become a very curious baby now that she can pretty much go anywhere she wishes.

She can sit up and army crawl like a pro!  She will get up on all 4s but isn't quite crawling yet.  She's soo close!

Her new thing is crawling under the coffee table. I quickly realized the bottom shelf of the coffee table can no longer be useful as a shelf.  It's now a jungle gym!

 She is also just starting to pull herself up on things.

She loves to be where the action is!

I thought little miss was sleeping due to the quietness...
however it was only because she was surprised at her new accomplishment!

 She learned how to play "so big" this month...and she also learned how to be stubborn and not do it any longer!  It was cute while it lasted tho!

finally big enough to ride in the cart!  

She is still eating baby food...she's not the best eater. The end of this month I started her on some boughten baby food that I found at a garage sale and now she will not eat my homemade kind! She's also becoming picky with her veggies...we are being creative with ways of sneaky bites of veggies in in between bites of fruit!

 She did try some real watermelon this month...however I'm petrified of choking children so after one episode of gagging/choking, the watermelon disappeared. We'll wait until she's a little bigger for table food.

 Emerson continues to be a happy, easy going baby.  I realized this month that she rarely takes a nook and when she does, it just becomes a toy.  I'm thankful that she doesn't need one very often then! She does well without a strict schedule, thank goodness, because I don't do well with them!

Emerson moved from the pack n' play in our room to her own crib this month!  She was not sleeping very well at night, waking up 2-4 times a night and I was getting tired of it.  So we moved her to her own bed.  She didn't sleep better right away but it has gotten better with time.

It was hard for me at first but once I started trusting the baby monitor and with a little time I decided it was nice having her in her own room!  I wasn't sure how I was going to nurse her when she woke up at night, since I always just brought her in bed with me, but I found out that I fit perfectly in the crib with her to nurse her back to sleep.  Problem solved!

 Things we did this month:

Emerson got a new baby cousin, Logan Joseph!  They aren't quite at the stage of playing together yet...but someday! Love each new little cousin!

Traveled to Leo for the Gateway Woods Auction. Emerson traveled great even thought our AC fan didn't work most of the time!

Spent an afternoon swimming with Grandma and the cousins.

Visited our friend Thelma.  Emerson was intrigued by her walker!

Spent breakfast out at lost in time with Aleya and her mom. They weren't so sure about being so close to eachother!

Spent an evening with my side of the family. Sienna and Emerson learned how to be partners in crime by emptying out Grandmas newspaper basket.  Actually...Sienna did most of the emptying but then left Emerson among the mess so it looked like Emerson was the one at fault!

 Supper with "uncle" Eric.

Enjoyed time out doors!

Emerson : 7 months

If you haven't figured out by now...I'm a procrastinator.  I've had a blog post with bullet points for almost three months now but never finished it!  So we'll see if I can crank out 7,8, & 9 months in the next few weeks before she reaches 10 months!

 Seven months pictures:

- Emerson started baby food just after her 6 month birthday. So far she's had squash, sweet potatoes, peas, applesauce, & bananas. I made all of her baby food and she has liked everything so far!  She usually eats 2-3 cubes of baby food/day.

- She eats every 2 hours still with baby food at lunch time and supper time and cereal at bedtime.

- Emerson has started sitting up on her own and is becoming mobile.
- She can scoot, roll, and spin herself and usually will get to wherever she wants to one way or another.

- She gets up on her knees but can't push arms & head up yet.  We're working with her!

- says "dada," which Kirk thinks is the greatest, squeals, blows bubbles, and jabbers.

- still no teeth but she continues to chew on anything she can get her hands on!

- Loves mirrors, tags, bathtime, swinging, and swimming !

- 2-3 naps a day lasting 1-2 hours each

Last nap in the swing...she's just a tad too big for it!

- Emerson is wearing some 0-3 month clothes but mostly 3-6 months.  6 month clothes are still a bit big.

This month we...

- went to a splash park with grandma, Jodi, and kids for a hot afternoon refresher! Emerson was kinda fussy.

- spent some time watching cousin Sienna. Emerson was mesmerized by how quick Sienna could get places!  She didn't like some much having to have someone to share her toys with however, and they had fun attacking eachothers faces!

- went to Peoria on the 4th for fireworks.  Emerson didn't seem to mind the noise!

- spent some time with friends...she doesn't seem to mind being surround by boys. :/

- Went swimming for the first time...she loved it!  And enjoyed sunbathing too I might add... ;)

- Celebrated Grandma Leman's Birthday.

- Got her first four-wheeler ride!

- And just enjoyed some quality family time together!  

We love you so much Emerson!! You are growing into such a fun little girl!