9 months

Are you really 9 months old already?  Wow, the time has flown by!

You are crawling and feeling so independent!  Being mobile helps separation anxiety soo soo much.  It's fun to see what you find interesting and what you really want to play with instead of just guessing what toys you want and giving them to you.  You move around right to your favorites.  Often, your favorite toy is whatever Savannah finds interesting at the moment and she is not too happy to share.  Her version of sharing is to take a toy from you and say "share" or take a toy from you, run away and say "trade."  A time or two recently, though, she has gone and brought back a toy for you and a toy for her and proclaimed "playing! together!"  I love when you two play together and you love it, too!

Thank you for continuing to be a sweetie pie sleeper.  7:30 on the dot and you let us know if you are not in your crib.  You are so ready for your beauty sleep and beautiful you are!  We don't hear anything from you until almost 8am and then you wake up all smiles.  You woke up today sitting up in your crib!  What a big girl!

Girly, you are a water baby!  We went outside the other day and when you saw our little splash pool you started squealing and bouncing in my arms and I could not get you in the water fast enough.  When we go to the splash pad, you just love when daddy holds you in the little water fountains.  You get excited when you get splashed.  You are so fun!

Still two teeth, my dear.  Those other ones are taking their sweet time.

Peek a boo!  When you crawl, you like to put your face down to the ground and then pop up smiling.  It is the cutest version of peek a boo ever!

You are trying new finger foods.  You love veggies and sometimes tolerate fruits.  Funny.  You've tried and liked green beans, corn, peas, carrots, pears, nectarines, puffs, yogurt bites, ritz crackers, cheerios, baby rice cakes, bananas, chicken, jello :)  Let's keep trying new things!!

Aww you love Savannah and you love talking to her.  You will stare so intently at her and squeal or giggle to get her attention, especially at meal time.  She loves to talk back to you and you two have had a couple of darling conversations.  Your best conversations of squealing or giggling back in forth have been in your carseats.  Oh this is just the best and I never want to stop driving when i'm listening to the two of you chat.

We love you, Emily.  You are such a sweetheart.  Happy 9 months old!

Emily 8 months

Happy 8 months, little bug.

You are such an amazing sleeper-and this is one of mommy's favorite things because sleeping mommies and babies are so much happier!  You don't like to snuggle to a song anymore when it is time for a nap or bedtime-you lunge into your crib, sometimes even throwing your pacifier out of your mouth just so you can lay down in your crib (and then there better be pacifiers in there waiting for you!).  Savannah chatters away at bedtime but you are almost instantly asleep.  Mommy has to check on you during your naps because you wake up silently and then just lay silently in your crib and play with your pacifiers.  Perhaps you are enjoying the quiet me-time!

No more teeth this month...not much drooling either.  Those two teeth can get a cracker down so who needs more than that!?

Baby you love food.  You love peaches, pears, mangoes, bananas, squash, sweet peas, sweet potatoes, prunes, and you eat green beans without much of a fuss.  You love your cereal and crackers.  You hate plain yogurt and the two times you've had it you were up for hours in the middle of the night so we are going to hold off for a while with more dairy.  You reach and whine for our table food and we are getting excited to share more with you!

You are getting to be a strong little girl.  You are almost able to pull yourself up to a stand and you love to be up and standing.  You balance up on your hands and knees when I put you down for tummy time but you don't know how to get into the position on your own yet.  You have face planted a few times because you reached so far for a toy from a sitting position-crawling will be a wonderful thing :)

You love to pat your thighs.  When mommy or daddy pat them, you pat them back and we go back and forth with you playing a little Emily pat pat game-so fun!

You have started a forced-sounding squeal when you are excited.  You do it to Savannah when she is playing in front of you, you do it when we are feeding you, and you do it when you are playing by yourself.  It's pretty cute.

You gave yourself the sweetest mirror kiss this week.  It was so darling and you thought that girl in the mirror was so fun!

Happy 8 months, sweet Emily.  We love love love you!

Mother's Day

What a HAPPY Mother's Day!  Sometimes I still pinch myself because being a mom is just the best thing in the world.  For these daughters I hoped, I prayed, I cried, I wished, and I could not be happier.  They are so wonderful and I absolutely love being a mommy!  Sweet Savannah gave me multiple "loves" today just out of the blue on her own accord.  Emily giggled back and forth with me after a feeding.  I love them so much and I feel so loved by them.  I am so blessed to be a mother to my darling little girls!  Life is far from perfect and there are not many grand adventures happening in my life but some of my favorite days are days that I just get to spend laying on the ground, playing with my girls.  Or taking the girls to the park to play with Chris on his lunch break.  Family is what it's all about and I love that 100% of  my time is needed and used up in being with my family.  I love these girls, I love being their mother, and I love my amazing husband who makes it easy to be a mom.  Happy Mother's Day from this happy momma!

Emily 7 months

Happy 7 months to my sleeper baby!  Seriously, you sleep all the time!  I don't know if you are growing or just decided to catch up on all the sleep you missed during the first 6 months of your life but it's crazy.  Here's your schedule:
8am Wake up call (sometimes I help you wake up then so Savannah and your naps line up in the afternoon.  You would, and did, sleep until 10 if I let you)
8-10am Nurse, play, eat cereal/fruit, play
10-12pm Nap (again, I often have to open the blinds and help you wake up at noon)
12-2pm Nurse, play, eat veggies/fruit, play
2-4pm Nap (sometimes this goes until 5)
4-7pm Nurse, play, eat cereal/veggies, play, nurse
7:30pm Bedtime and you are out as soon as we lay you down!

TWO TEETH!  We love your cute little bottom teeth that made their grand appearance together this month.  You've had a few rough nights and tylenol was worthless but a friend suggested ibuprofen and life was back to normal.

You have tried an array of fruits and veggies.  You much prefer the veggies, although it might be because they are thicker.  You don't like your cereal runny so maybe the fruits are too runny for you.  When you don't finish a jar of baby food by the last day, Savannah is happy to eat the rest for you-she gobbles down even the greens... She also likes to sit on mommy and daddy's lap and coach you as you eat.  "Bite!" "Good girl!" "Yummm." "Cereal!" "Squash" "Bananas"  I'm sure you appreciate the help.

You and Savannah are the sweetest little buddies.  You love her so much and she loves you.  The two of you play so well together.  Savannah loves to bring you toys and you love anything and everything she brings you.  One night this month as we were finishing our bedtime routine, the two of you had a ball kissing each other and giggling back and forth.  It was cute enough that we let you stay up and keep at it for 10 minutes past your bedtime (which is huge for your schedule-mom).

Momma's girl.  We left you with a babysitter but you screamed so hard when she came that I just put you to bed 15 minutes early.  We had a neighbor over for Easter dinner and you screamed when she walked in and said hello to you because you did not see mommy or daddy.

Those cute chubby thighs and rolls on your arms have been getting a little smaller.  In fact, you didn't gain any weight from 4-6 months.  We are going back in a few days to see if you have gained this month.

You are a reacher!  You love sitting up and all but refuse tummy time.  You will bend completely flat from sitting up to reach a toy and then sit back up.  Amazing abs, little one.  You love to play with mommy's necklaces and earrings, too.

Oh my dear you learned to hug and it is the most precious thing ever!  You wrap your little arms around our necks and snuggle into our shoulders.  Even when you don't wrap your arms around you love to snuggle.  Sometimes you dive headfirst into our shoulder without warning just to snuggle.  You are our little snuggle-bug.

We love you, sweet Emily.  We sure love that you are part of our family!

Gilbert Temple

Emily 6 months

Emily, my dear, you are 6 months old already.  Where did the time go?

#1 highlight of the month is that you are SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Oh what a wonderful thing this has been.  We started by not feeding you in the middle of the night when you woke up-you only got the pacifier.  Your night wakings dropped dramatically and then became just at 4 am...then 5 am...then 6am.  We'll take a 6am wake up call over hourly visits in the middle of the night!  We are so proud of you, sweetie.

You can sit up!  What a big girl you are and how you love sitting up and playing by Savannah.  You can play with so many new toys when you are sitting up and you never want to lay down anymore.

Since you can sit up, we gave you claim to the high chair. Savannah has graduated to a booster and she loves it.  You have the high chair and you are SO much easier to feed oatmeal to with your grabby hands holding the tray instead of trying to grab the spoon and bring it to your mouth.  You are a little too young to feed yourself with a spoon.  :)

You really have come alive this month.  You are much more interactive and you love to laugh and squeal.  Your cousin Owen had you laughing for 10 minutes straight-the hardest laugh I have ever heard from you!  I walked into the house after some errands and I heard lots of squealing.  When I came in to see which girly it was, I found daddy watching both girls in a crib and he announced that the squeals were from BOTH of you.  You love to give kisses when we hold your mouth next to our faces.  You get so excited in our little splash pool and you splash and wave your arms.  You love to take a bath and love it even more when Savannah is in there with you.  We went to a  primary talent show and your eyes lit up with all the kids running around and the hustle and bustle.  We went to storytime at the library this month and you LOVED it. 

We love you, Emily!  It's so fun having you in our family!

Picturemanie

 Pigtails and pockets

 Making lunch with daddy

 

 We got to go to the temple dedication-it was wonderful

 

 Best friends

 Swings!

 Funnest face

 She found her thumb!

 Daddy's cowgirl

 Bike ride with mommy

 Dandelions...with the fluff gone

 

 Visiting daddy at work

 Stories in mommy's bed

 Peek-a-boo

Savannah put a hat on and is making smiles and talking to her reflection in the window.