With a Wink and a Smile

 

 

Emma Kate gifted me with the most beautiful smiles this morning after our walk.  I would tickle her and her face would just light up.  She is working on laughing and it is music to my ears.  Don't those happy cheeks just make you smile, too? The bottom photo was taken yesterday outside and her thoughtful expression reminded me of her Papa.  I love this little girl so much!



She Sells Sea Shells

 

 

 

We had a fantastic weekend with Zack's family in town.  Emma loved visiting with Grandma and Grandpa as well as Aunt Gabby and Aunt Elise.  We were so very very lucky to have them come to visit us again! We ate out at Ramsey's and Chuy's while they were here and enjoyed delicious burgers on the grill as well.  We spent a while at the mall where Grandma Paula bought Emma some adorable new jammies and clothes- including this fantastic teal seashell jumper!  It was a great weekend with good food, wonderful family, and fun times.  We're a very lucky family.

 

My Little Pianist

 

 

Emma Kate has been bringing me so much happiness!  She has been having a ball on her new playmat and loves kicking at the piano keys.  Whether it's the noise, the pressure on her feet of something to kick, or something else I'm not sure- but she loves it!  She's began batting at the toys hanging on her playmats as well.  It's so much fun to watch her. 

 

Yesterday evening Emma went into her swing for the first time and actually liked it.  Up until then I've kept trying to put her in it but she'd cry and not like it.  Yesterday she enjoyed the rocking sensation and even fell asleep in it for a little while.  It's so nice to see her enjoy it.  We were worried that we spent lots of money on a very large, expensive artifact to sit and collect dust.  It'll still collect dust, but at least she'll get to use it, too. :)

 

Not So Sleepy

 

 

 

My little sleepy head heard me talking about her excellent sleeping habits and decided to rise this morning at 3:45am.  Really, truly- not a problem if it weren't for the fact that she's been sleeping through the night until 5:45-6:15ish for weeks.  Where did this come from?  Hungry?  Maybe- she did eat, since I made her rising worth the time.  Startled awake?  Doubtful.  Angry because her arm was only halfway up her swaddle sack and she couldn't get it all the way out?  Possibly.  If only I could ask my sweetheart what the problem was... I put her back to bed after eating in just a fleece pajama sack (no swaddle) and she was soooooooo restless and noisy. She did, however, go back to sleep on her own after being wide awake.  I didn't want her to think that waking up again was fun time so I just put her down in her crib with bright eyes and she went to sleep again.  I know- I'm ridiculously lucky in the baby department! We decided to swaddle again tonight since it's worked so well since birth and we'll see how she sleeps tonight.  Hopefully it was a fluke last night and she has a peaceful sleep all night tonight. 

 

 

Today she had just one nap.  One.  Again- not so sleepy.  But she was a happy, happy girl and had fun playing outside with me, cleaning the house for our company that's coming, snuggling, and playing on her new playmat (thank you, Grandma Paula and Grandpa Steve!).  The middle photo makes me giggle.  It's almost like she's looking at me going, "What are these tickly whiskers doing on my cheeks?!"  She now smiles frequently when you kiss her cheeks.  Tonight when I put her to bed she was asleep in my arms and I kissed her cheek goodnight and she smiled a big gummy smile. She really knows how to melt her mama's heart.

Papa's a Turd

Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Emma decided to switch up her routine a little.  Her sleeping patterns have changed a little- as in she's decided to skip her morning nap.  This makes for a happy baby, but keeps me guessing as to when she'll want to go to sleep again.  Yesterday and today she's eliminated her morning nap but has fallen asleep completely on her own while playing (her new trick!).  This little power nap only lasts about 15 minutes or so, but it's still amazing to me to see her drift off on her own.  She's spent her whole life being snuggled to sleep (unless it's at night at which time we mean business).  I know... I'm creating a monster.  I just love love love holding her and find it to be a blessing to snuggle her to sleep.  My big girl is growing up.

On a slightly funny note (funny for Zack), I was working on Emma's nightly feeding when we heard a gigantic rear-splosion.  My husband, the love of my life and best friend, promptly looks at me and says that THIS diaper is all mine.  Lately we've been tag teaming the nightly routine (dipe change, feeding, burping, dipe change, swaddle and to sleep).  Tonight my handsome turd of a husband claims that he has absolutely NO memory of helping with the nightly routine and he's a bad Papa who by no means will change dipes.  Chicken.  I go in to change her myself (I do it alone all the time anyways, so it's no problem of course).  My sweet angel indeed has a mess which I promptly take care of.  I get the next dipe ready and SPLOGOOSH- pee and pooper all at the same time.  The smile on Emma's face was the best sight. Am I crazy for loving each minute- even the pooper ones when I've been deserted? It just makes me smile to think about it.  My call for help after the second rear-splosion was met with a laugh from Papa. Hilarious. Thanks for the encouragement... Big 'ol turd...

Meal Delivery

Even after a nice long sleep (usually 8 hours), Emma usually will eat her breakfast and then sleep some more in the morning.  This morning my little bumblebee was ready to roll and wasn't wanting to sleep.  We began our day right after Zack left for work.  Emma "helped" me cook a meal for a family who just had their own little baby.  We learned about measuring cups and spoons and she got to smell some yummy vanilla. We made homemade coleslaw, Hawaiian sandwiches, and brownies from scratch (which weren't so great and actually seemed more like cake than brownies, I'm afraid). This evening we drove across town to deliver the meal and met new baby Benjamin.  It's amazing to me how much bigger Emma is now than when she was born.  Little Benjamin was so small, and Emma so big, that it was yet another reminder of how fast she's growing and how quickly the time passes.

Home, Home on the Range

 

This weekend Emma, Ava, Mollie and I made the long haul home to Indiana to celebrate my nephew Grayson's baptism.  Emma was absolutely fabulous on the long drive and made her mama very proud!  We only had to stop once for a feeding/bathroom/dog walking break.  She slept almost the entire time driving, which made it much more pleasant for me.  I never like hearing her cry and not being able to fix it!

You'll see lots of photos above of family that we were able to visit with this weekend.  Emma was held all weekend long by her family and loved every minute of it (even if she was sleeping and unaware most of the time)! She met Great-Grandma Ruth and Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Beeks for the first time this weekend as well as new family and friends.  We also had a good time noting the fact that Emma has the same hairdo as her Grandpa Steve. It was busy busy busy!

Grayson's baptism was beautiful.  Rickie and Abby have a new pastor at their church who was very kind and a great speaker.  The service was wonderful and all of our little angels were on their best behavior.  We're a lucky family to have so many generations all together during such a happy event!

You'll see that Emma realized what she was seeing in the mirror for the first time this weekend.  I've had her in front of a mirror but she'd never focus on it when I pointed to it.  This weekend my mom placed her changing pad in front of the mirror and she was in awe of the pretty girl in the reflection.  It was adorable to see her coo and smile at herself!