8 Months

At 8 months Emmaline ...

*likes to poop in the tub.  I guess I shouldn't let her play in the tub so long - she just gets too relaxed.  (5th time).  I have said it before but she loves bath time.  She has just learned how to lay in the tub by herself (I'm close by) and relax & play.

*growls like a demon

*rolls all over the place - she no longer stays still while being changed

*loves trying to open the flaps in her books

* got her first cold.  She doesn't like having her nose wiped but doesn't mind if she is cleaned off in the sink.

*sleeps with her legs tucked up under her - so adorable.  She sleeps through the night most nights.

* is babbling more and more everyday.  She is always trying out new sounds & shrieks

*socially laughs when Dad is laughing.  Even when talking to Dad on the phone- he says, "ha" and she will answer back with "ha" or more laughter.

*holds my finger (or Dad's) while nursing.  She grabs on to your finger and then starts moving it all over the place.  If Dad is around she always looks for him.

*can get up on all fours (3/2)

*can sit up unassisted.  It is much fun watching her try to learn the best way to get down.  She is learning but still usually ends up just toppling over.    The trial and error is pretty entertaining.

Making progress toward crawling.

Emmaline with her awesome runny nose.  There is nothing better then a good sneeze to clear out her sinuses.  

Grandma Bozung -Sorry about the snot rocket the other day.  Emmaline didn't mean to get boogers on you.  It was pretty funny though.

She would lay here forever if I let her.

Lately, her bath has ended abruptly when she poops and has to quickly be evacuated from the tub.  All I have to say is "Emmaline" in that voice and Jon answers, "Did she poop?" and comes running to perform his cleaning duties.

 

She doesn't ever mind when water gets on her face and loves to splash.  She usually just lays on her back.  She has begun to start rolling over but changes her mind mid roll.  I can't wait to see her reaction when she gets a face full of water.

7 Months (a little late)

Yes. . . I do realize this is late and that she is now 9 months old.  I'm just trying to play catch up.

Emmaline is so much fun.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  Jon used to say that he wished babies could just come out at age 1 (before Emmaline was born) because they are more fun.  Since having Emmaline he has retracted that statement many times.  He would have missed out on all the cuddling, new discoveries, giggling at daddy for no apparent reason, etc.  She is adorable.

At 7 months Emmaline....

*Favors kicking her right foot.  Watch out when she is in the bathtub

*Loves bath time.  She likes touching the running water and knocking her toys into the water while dad lays her across his lap and fills up the tub.  She loves floating on her back and kicking her feet (while I hold her up).  She doesn't even mind when water gets on her face.

*Loves eating solid foods.  Never seems to want to stop.

*Laughs when her bear, Coya attacks her.

*Shakes her head side to side when she hears music.  She loves the music from her gloworm.  I think she picked up some dance moves from her cousin Abigail.

*Laughs when I sing "laaaa" high and low.

* Rubs her eyes like crazy when tired.

*Puts everything in her mouth.

*Hits her chest like Tarzan (short lived)

*Likes to run her open, slobbery mouth across my face.  First kisses?

*Isn't playing with her tongue as much lately.

*She likes to make raspberries with her lips.  This creates the frothiest, slobber mouth and makes her face sparkle from all the spit that flies out while doing this.

*Makes her board books squeak by running her hand down the pages.

*Has started rolling around a lot more lately.  She hasn't mastered rolling to get her anywhere - just back and forth.  (Jan. 25th)

*Has a few hairs that seem to be growing.  My mom said the other day, "See, her hair is growing - some of them are blowing in the wind."

*No teeth - just drool.

*Takes 2 naps for various lengths of time.  She falls asleep in her crib on her own.

Pumpkin Time (10/27/09)

There is something about Jon and pumpkins - homegrown pumpkins that is.  He gets such joy from his pumpkin patch.  It is really quite cute.  For the last couple of years Jon has taken over part of his parents garden and dedicated it to the growing of his pumpkins.

He would love to have one massive pumpkin but doesn't have the heart to do what it takes to accomplish that - kill all of the other ones off.  So instead we end up with tons of fun pumpkins.  This year the pumpkins were pretty funky since the only pumpkins we grew were volunteers.

We usually spend a night carving really cool pumpkins but that didn't happen this year with the baby and other things going on.  We instead invited our neighbors over for a carving party.  It was tons of fun.  The only sadness came when some of the girls were kicking the stems off of the pumpkins for fun.  Little did they know that Jon takes great care when picking the pumpkins to leave the stems long because he thinks they are so cool.  Oh well.

Before the pumpkins could be carved I needed a picture of Emmaline with the pumpkin crop.  I have wanted a picture like this since even before she was born.  I always imagined the baby sitting in a wheelbarrow full of pumpkin.  But since we had too many pumpkins and I didn't want to leave any of them out we changed our plans.  Emmaline was a good sport for the most part - towards the end she was over the pumpkin picture.

 

 

 I couldn't resist including this picture.  Sad but funny.

 

Bryan & Richelle's Wedding

My Little Russian girl.  

At Bryan & Richelle's wedding reception.

 Bryan & Richelle with all of the nieces & nephews.

Mommy, Emmaline, & Brooklyn

 Hanging out with Aunt Lisa and Abigail at wedding dinner.

Pics

3 1/2 months

4 months.  I love bathtime

Laughing at Mom

Yesterday Emmaline laughed at me for the first time. This wasn't neccessarily her first laugh - just her most important one since it was directed towards me. So far she has laughed at her Dad, a neighbor, and Grandpa Bozung (in that order). The laugh today was the best and heartiest laugh so far. It was an actual chuckle compared the previous ones.

I approached Emmaline to get her out of her bouncy chair since she was starting to get fussy. I figured she was about to get really mad since it was close to feeding time. I said, "Hi, buggy boo" and she looked up and me and laughed - I tried again and got a smile - third time, nothing. It was so adorable. I was so excited that I had to call and tell Jon right away. I am so stoked that she is going to start laughing more now. She is just so adorable.

Emmaline is changing so quickly. I can't believe how big she is. At church was were talking to a girl with a new baby. I commented on the fact that I couldn't believe how much Emmaline had grown in 3 months. Jon said that she was never that small and then asked her how much her baby weighed when born. Turned out she was actually bigger then Emmaline had been. It's funny how fast you forget how small your baby was (just like you forget the pains of pregnancy and labor so you will do it again).

At her 2 month visit Emmaline was in the 91st percentile for height and 56th for weight.

Emmaline loves her bouncy chair. Last week she would occasionally grab her hangy toys or hit them (I don't know if this was deliberate or not). I put her in her chair a couple of night ago and she was going to town with her toys. It was like she changed over night. Now whenever she is in her seat she has both her hands in the toys and she is moving them all around causing them to rattle and tinkle. Jon loves the tinkly noise - he says it just makes him happy. She can't make the bird turn properly yet by pulling on the toys. She just punches the bird with her fist to make is twirl. I'm trying to give her a lesson in cause and effect by pulling down on the toy with her hand. It will interesting to see how soon she can get the bird to move.

Her other favorite place is an unlikely one - her changing table. She just loves it there (this wasn't always the case). As long as she isn't screaming when you put her on it she will just lay there, smile, and look around while you change her. We think she like the fun colors of her nursery and the fact that she can see us up close while we talk and play with her. Since she has this rash that just hasn't ever fully gone away, I entertain her in various ways while waiting for her bum to air dry. She seems to also enjoy this freedom from the diaper - she relieves herself daily on mom, her clothes, the changing pad cover. Afterwards, she just looks up at me with a cute little smile. I think it is rather amusing especially since she only does it when I am changing her. (I don't think Dad is quite as daring as I am. He also likes to spend his teaching her how to say Dada). As a result her changing pad rarely has a cover on it.

Emmaline loves when it her Daddy comes home. Whenever Jon walks up to her and says,
"Hello Emmaline - it's Daddy," she rewards him with the biggest smile. She does this everytime - regardless of the kind of mood she is in. It is the sweetest thing to watch. Sometimes I am tempted to help Jon on his Dada first word quest because I love seeing how happy Emmaline's positive attention makes him. What can I say - I'm a sucker for his twinkly eyes and little ball cheeks. Needless to say, Mom is always happy when Dad comes home as well.

Blessing Day

Emmaline Rose was blessed by her father on Sunday, September 6th. Emmaline exceeded our expectations and was a little angel during the blessing. Jon and I were both worried that she was going to be fussy through the whole thing. This would have been especially awful since she is moving past the cute newborn cry into louder screams. To ensure that she was well behaved I gave her a bottle right before church to get her "milk drunk." For those of you not familiar with this technique - you get a baby to drink a lot of milk before her stomach registers as being full - (this cannot be done with nursing). I don't usually support being drunk but she is so cute when she gets milk drunk. She just lays there with a smile on her face, and a far off look in her eyes that is hard to see due to the battle she is having to keep them open. The trick worked - she was great during her blessing. Jon later told me that she was smacking her lips during the whole thing. He was concerned that everyone could hear her. I guess she was doing it pretty loudly but luckily the mic didn't pick it up.

Emmaline very rarely uses a pacifier. She just mimicks the sucking motion with her mouth. I think she is adorable when she does it. She is also very talented with her tongue (see attached footage). She has been a little lizard since a few second after she was pulled out of my womb.



Jon did a beautiful job on the blessing. He is such a cute, proud father. The people in attendance were Grandma and Grandpa Stevens, Aunt Linsey, Grandma and Grandpa Bozung, Uncle Bryan, and soon to be Aunt Richelle. The rest of the family is out of state so they were unable to attend.

My family came over afterward for dinner, asphalt pie (yum) and games. It was also the scene of Emmaline's biggest freak out to date. She has been having what is described as a "nipple strike." Lately, she freaks out whenever I try to feed her. Mom has been battling back with her own "bottle strike" (I do occasionally give in). I hope she will get past this rebellion soon. I pray it isn't a sign of future things to come. When I'm not trying to feed her she is a wonderful little baby (and used to be during feedings as well).


Emmaline with her proud father.