Halloween Fun!

Better late than never, right?

Emily had a really fun Halloween!  She dressed up at a chicken (or maybe it was a duck, we're not sure).  

Her class at school dressed up and they were all SO cute!

Here's Emily with her friend, Clare Miller.

Later that day we went to Blaine's office for the girls to see Emily in her costume. 

She was such a trooper all day and didn't even mind being in that funny hat!  She didn't fit in the carseat with it on so we kept having to change in and out of it too.  Even Aunt Kelli liked wearing the hat!

We tried to go "trick-or-treating" at the neighbors houses but no one was home :( It was only 5 o'clock!  We did get a funny look from one of the teenagers down the street though.

So we loaded up in the car again and went to "trunk-or-treat" at church.  Emily met up with her friend, Greta Apke, and her dad Mike there.  

She had fun stealing candy from Grandma and Aunt Kelli while they were passing it out to the other trick or treaters!

This was the funniest picture taken all day!  Wonder what they were thinking?? (probably: your mom too, huh?)

Emily is 6 months old!

Emily had her half birthday on Saturday! The past 6 months have flown by (but ya'll already knew that)!  We've been so busy I haven't had time to post.  My CAbi business has also been keeping me pretty busy when Emily is at school and in the evenings after she's in bed. 

We had her 6 months doctor's appointment today and she weighs 17lbs 12oz and is 25 1/2 inches long...growing so much! She's teething pretty bad and has to have her hands, a toy or a paci in her mouth at.all.times!  She also had shots today, poor baby. 

Mostly I just need to catch ya'll up on some pictures.  But I'll throw in a little commentary just for fun. 
Let's start from a month ago...
 

My parents came for a visit and I decorated our front door just in time to get the Halloween festivities started.

 

 

Blaine and I took Emily to visit the Sandhills Community College Horticultural garden one beautiful Sunday afternoon. I had never been there and I've lived here for 10 years now. We'll definitely go back when more things are blooming b/c I can tell it's going to be beautiful.

We celebrated my birthday at lunch with Blaine's mom, dad and sister. Emily was squealing LOUDLY b/c she was so excited to be sitting with Grandma and trying to drink from her glass!  I know that everyone in the restaurant was glad when we left.

This was supposed to show off her Kansas Jayhawks outfit from her Aunt Kelli but this shot is much funnier!  She has a ball rolling on the floor and has gotten VERY good at it.  She's starting to try and get up on her knees a little but can push herself all the way onto her hands at least.  I think seeing all the other babies at her preschool has really helped with her liking tummy time.

This is one evening before dinner on she and Blaine's "nature walk".  They survey the yard to make sure everything is growing like its supposed to and she gets to touch the pine needles and has even picked me a rose. Such a sweetie!

We've been able to go visit my parents quite a bit lately. Mostly b/c my sister has been coming home to work on details of her upcoming (3 weeks away!) wedding.  This trip was for her dress fitting and bridal portraits I think.  I was able to find this jumperoo to keep at my parents' house for Emily and she loves it.  See how she has a towel under her feet? Not anymore, she can touch the floor now!  She loves to bounce too from the look on her face!

She's just hanging out with her twin PaPa here and chewing on her Sophie the Giraffe.  Unfortunately Sophie doesn't squeak anymore. I had to boil it b/c she had a little bout with thrush and I was trying to kill the bacteria. She's all better for now but that stuff can be hard to get rid of so we have some medicine on hand just in case.

Emily's GiGi was showing off her pretty Stella and Dot necklace while we were waiting for Allyson's dress fitting at the bridal salon. She's so curious now and reaching out for everything.

Emily went to visit her daddy at work one day to shop for some new insurance. He was able to save her TONS, you should call him and have him save you some too! hahaha!
Sorry for the blurry picture, I was trying to snap it before she fell out of her seat.

Aunt Kelli helped her type out her application on the typewriter! They had fun exploring the office that day!

We took Emily to pick out a pumpkin one beautiful Saturday. It wasn't a real pumpkin patch but just some road side stand. She didn't care either way.

See how curious she is...this isn't the first time I've caught her trying to roll onto the bottom shelf of a bookcase! 

So cute in her monogrammed overalls from her Grandaddy and Clareese! 

And this is miss priss sitting pretty in her tutu and t-shirt looking precious.  She's sitting up pretty good but still needs a little help. She's fell and banged her head a couple of times on the hardwood floor or a toy but she bounces back quickly (we've learned the art of distraction).

This isn't a very good picture but I wanted to share it. Emily is not really one to snuggle. But sometimes when she falls asleep nursing and I put her on my shoulder to burp I can't help but leave her there for a little while just to savor the feeling. Its my favorite part about nursing and being her mommy. I love her so very much and how could you not love this sweet face?!?

We're so proud of Emily and how much she is growing and developing. Its such a blessing to watch her and to get to love on her and hear her laugh everyday. I just want to freeze time...

Busy, busy, busy...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Classic excuse of being busy. Not really sure where the days go but they fly by. Especially the 3 hours Emily is at school! We've celebrated my birthday, been to Henderson and Raleigh for wedding stuff and had my parents in town in the past few weeks. Next week is Emily's 6 month birthday so I'll do another post then, I promise. This one is coming from the blogger app on my phone so I'm not even sure how it will end up but here are some pictures to hold you over until I have a chance to write more.
Emily loves paper, she of course wants to eat it but she's putting EVERYTHING in her mouth.
She is still rolling EVERYWHERE too. You can see her trying to escape her play mat. We've actually expanded her play area in the living room but I know it won't be long before she has free reign over the house.
I thought it would be fun to push her around in her empty diaper box one Saturday morning...she thought so too but couldn't really take a break from chewing on her fingers to let y'all know!
We also broke out her high chair in anticipation of starting her to solids soon. I wanted to wait until at least 6 months and when she was sitting up on her own. She's showing signs too of being ready and seems to like the high chair just fine.
This is just a teaser, maybe I'll find more time this weekend to blog! Ha!

We love this sweet little baby to pieces!

5 months old!

Ok, so this post is about 4 days late...sorry, we've been busy!

Where did the months go!?!  Five months have passed ALREADY!?!  Wow!  Blaine and I were just talking how the days go slow but the weeks and months fly by.

Emily started preschool and has been doing pretty good.  She was upset a couple of days when I picked her up but I think she just gets SO tired while she's there. She doesn't really get a nap except for on their walk and all that playing just wears her out.  Everyday we get a "poop scoop" with details of what time she ate, when they changed her diaper, how long she napped, and what activities she enjoyed. 



 She's really been rolling over like crazy in the last week.  Every since school she's not minded being on her tummy either. Now she just rolls front to back and back to front like it's no big deal.  She would roll all the way down the hallway if you let her. I know our days of her not being mobile are numbered...

She's got such a fun personality too. Sometimes even laughing spontaneously without any prompting. Especially when I am pushing her in a shopping cart, she thinks that is so funny!



Her brother monkey seems to really get her tickled too!  She's still exclusively breast fed and i'm really not interested in starting her on solids or even rice cereal until at least 6 months old. But we'll see, i'm still doing research on that.

Last weekend we went out on a limb and took her to the NC State football game. Well we knew it probably wasn't a good idea going into it since kick-off was 6pm and her bedtime is 7pm but we thought we'd try anyway. My dad met us there too which was fun. 

She was great walking into the game and for a little while when we got in but then she got a little upset. It was time for her to eat so we went to the first aid center and they had an area where we could nurse. She's a bit of a distracted eater usually but I was able to feed her a little before she got too curious about where she was. So we went back to sit down and by then it was close to 7 and she was tired. There was just too much going on and she wouldn't sleep.  I took her up to the concourse and got her settled down but she still wouldn't close her eyes. So I thought we'd go sit back down but she wasn't having it. Instead of fighting it the rest of the half we just decided to go. She did great walking (being carried by my dad) back out to the car but screamed once we got her in her carseat and started heading home. FINALLY she settled down and went to sleep. Hearing that cry is quite exhausting and I hate seeing her at that point. I think we'll try again, just not at a game during her bedtime. I don't think the noise was really the problem, just bedtime.

We were at my parents' last week for a night for me to do a CAbi show and Grandaddy and Clareese came to visit! So fun...wait until you see what they bought her...(pictures coming soon)!

Beach!!

Last weekend we spent time at Oak Island with Blaine's mom, dad and sister (and Baxter, Kelli's dog).

We had a great time hanging out on the beach and playing with Emily. She did wonderful out on the beach. We set up a tent, there was a nice breeze, and she even napped and nursed out on the beach!  In fact she was sitting in my lap and fell asleep sitting up!  Something in that salty air just makes you relax.  If she doesn't start napping better I guess we'll just have to move to the beach! haha! 

We also went to dinner with some friends while there and enjoyed seeing them as well.  Its so much work to take a little one to the beach (or anywhere for that matter) with all the paraphernalia that you have to carry.  We managed though.  She didn't go down that first night to sleep very easily, I guess she was too excited about being there. Blaine and I both had to lay down with her on our bed for her to fall asleep (2 hours later) then move her to the pack & play. 

Here are some more pictures from our time together at the beach...

 

1st day of "preschool"

Today is Emily's first day at Sonshine Learning Center. I dropped her off this morning and she was so curious about the other kids and flirting with the teachers that she didn't even notice I was leaving. So at least she wasn't crying. Of course I did though. :( My sweet friend Shirley (whose 3rd baby) is in Emily's class was there to give me a hug and called to make sure I was ok. I did better than I thought I would at least.  I cried getting her dressed b/c she looked so sweet in her new smocked dress (with a school house and busses!) so I thought this can't be good!  Its weird not having her with me, I feel like something is missing for sure. The teachers really seem very sweet. We visited with them yesterday and I really like them. I'm sure she'll love it and will do great.

Fall is upon us...

What a great summer we've had! I've throughly enjoyed my time with Emily and being home with her. I mean, what a cutie pie!

But, it's off to pre-school next week for her though. Its actually a "mom's morning out" type deal at a local baptist church call Sonshine Learning Center.  They have a baby class (only 6 babies with 2 adults) and I've had lots of friends with their kids there that love it so we decided to sign up.  She'll go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8:30am-11:30am. I know she's really young for "school" but it'll be good for us (I hope, *sniff*).  I'll have a chance to go get my hair did, run errands, doctor appointments, stuff like that so that when we get our afternoons together we'll be able to spend quality time with each other.  I'm scared excited for this next little step for our baby girl.
Of course she has a first day of school outfit that I'll post next week but I had to take a picture of this sweet post card we got in the mail yesterday after our walk from her teachers.  It says: Emily, we are looking forward to a great year at Sonshine! Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday, September 4. Laurie and Suzy.  I of course got a little teary over it but it made me feel so much better about our decision.  I just can't believe its already September!

Along with fall comes football season too! Emily is all ready with her NC State gear and we're looking forward to cheering them on tonight! Go Wolfpack!!

She's working on her wolfpack hand signal :)  She has found that her hands are connected to her brain though and looks at them intently as she moves them. Its so cute to watch. I can't wait for her to find her feet! 
Here she is too with her Brother Monkey. She's almost bigger than him! She likes to hug him and laugh at him when i'm making the bed in the mornings.  I'm still not sleeping with him by the way!

XOXO