Emme Goes to the Elite Eight

Once upon a time, the mommy, the daddy and the baby went here:

{Outside the Energy Solutions Arena}

To watch this:{Butler vs. Kansas St.}

Once we got inside, at first the baby was like this:{Oooh! Lights and noise!}

But then she was like this:

{Sensory overload! Sensory overload!}

So the daddy took the baby out in the hall to do this:

While the mommy was inside doing this:

And then Butler did this:

So they all lived happily ever after, like this:

THE END.

Random Thoughts

Mom Jeans
I went shopping the other day with my mom and sisters, where I found a pair of really cute Calvin Klein cropped skinny jeans. I'm back into my old pre-pregnancy jeans, but they don't fit the way they used to because my body is definitely shaped differently now.

So I tried these skinny jeans on, and I was like wow, these make me look good! They had a higher rise, but I wear long shirts with my skinny jeans anyway, so they looked really cute. So I bought them. The next day I pulled the jeans out of the closet to put them on. As I was taking the tags off, I happened to glance down and notice the word "shaper" on the tag.

Shaper, I thought? That's weird.

As I investigated further, I discovered that the jeans have a tummy shaping panel all along the front. Why do these jeans make me look good? Because they're "mom jeans." And I'm officially a mom now. Sigh.


The Babysitter
Debbie, the wonderful saint-of-a-woman who watches Emme on Tuesdays and Fridays while I work, lives in our ward. This last Sunday, she happened to be in Young Womens for the last hour as we had a discussion with the girls and their mothers about the Young Women broadcast last week.

As we were waiting for the meeting to begin, Emme was being passed around the room as various girls were taking turns holding her. She ended up being held by a girl sitting next to Debbie. Debbie noticed Emme and leaned over to get her attention and say hi to her. Once Emme's eyes found Debbie, her face spread into a giant smile. Then she grabbed Debbie's face with both hands and smiled with her whole body, and started to coo and talk to her. Emme knew exactly who she was! And she was so excited to see her! It was one of the most tender moments I've ever seen. It made me so happy as a mom because it was so reassuring to know that she loves being with Debbie while I'm gone. It was just what I needed.


Daddies
A few weeks ago Chris and Emme and I went to a party for his cousin & wife who were in town visiting. There ended up being five or six other couples there, who had all had babies within the last three months. We ended up having three or four of us nursing our babies in the front room all at the same time. I had a really good time chatting and visiting with the other ladies, since we all had a lot in common.

A little later in the evening, I walked into the kitchen to get a drink where Chris and two of the other men were chatting. In passing, I expected to overhear a piece of their conversation about the stock market, or work, or the most recent Jazz game.

Instead, I overheard these three twenty-something year old men talking about what age they moved their babies into their cribs, infant sleep training methods, and feeding schedules. It was one of the most adorable moments, that I'll never forget. Chris is such an amazingly wonderful hands-on dad, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

{And some pictures just because. This is the face Emme makes when dad kisses her neck with a scratchy beard.}

Emme At 4 Months

I can hardly believe Emme is 4 months old now! My gosh, how time flies. At her 4 month checkup, Emme was 65 percentile for height, 25 percentile for weight, and 85 percentile for head. So she's still a long stringbean with a big head like her daddy. :) The doctor also gave us the go-ahead to start her on solids! More pics of that to come soon.

Emme is a pro at picking up her toys now, and getting her binky in and out of her mouth, and she still loves to suck on her hands (or anyone else's hands for that matter). She'll smile at anyone who makes contact with her (especially at the grocery store, lol), and she belly laughs if you "chomp" on her neck.

Emme has also found her toes in the last few days! She'll bring them up to her hands and play with them all day. When she does this she often rolls to her side, and it looks like pretty soon she'll be rolling from tummy to back. (Chris says he wants her to "just crawl already." I say he'll eat his words soon.)

Wiggle Worm

Emme is a wiggle worm nowadays, especially when she sleeps. We often find her in the morning clear down at the bottom of the crib with her feet touching the bumper. She also manages to wiggle creatively out of her swaddle blankets all the time.

I'm not quite sure how she got her elbow out the arm hole and her hand up by her face in this one. She'll do anything to get that hand by her face! It was that way for 9 months in the womb, so no reason to stop now, I suppose.

This one reminds me of Chris! She's got her nightgown up to her waist and her hands behind her head, just lounging all relaxed. I love those little thighs with the beginnings of a roll of chunk starting to form. Yay!

Daddy-Daughter Time

I never get tired of watching Chris play with Emme. Here are a few of my recent favorites.

{Emme will belly-laugh now if you gobble up her neck.}

{We did such a good job training Emme to sleep in her crib that she doesn't fall asleep on us very often anymore. But we still love it.}

{Emme's wearing Daddy's favorite jammies. He says yellow is "her color."}

{Daddy protecting Emme from the "paparazzi."}

Mullet-Tails

We've invented a new hairstyle at our house. We like to call it mullet-tails. Business in front, party in the back, with a little twist of baby girl.

New Tricks

Emme's got all sorts of new tricks lately! In the last little while she's started grabbing onto things. I can hold a rattle out in front of her and she'll focus her eyes on it and bring her hands in to grab it. And then it usually goes straight for the mouth, lol. It's amazing how quickly babies change and learn! When we set her under her play gym, she'll actually play with the toys now, instead of just staring at them while we shake them.


The other day I had her in her bouncer while I was getting ready. I clipped her binky to the toy bar with the other toys, because she likes to grab at it since she recognizes it. A few minutes later I turned around and she had grabbed the binky, put it in her mouth, and was playing with the other toys! I'm convinced she's a genius. :)

{"What, mom? All the kids are doing it these days."}

Best. Toy. Ever.

This one's for the grandmas.

My favorite part of the video is when she takes a break from the kicking excitement and says "Oooh, my hands! Nom, nom nom," and then goes back to playing. If you listen closely you can hear me laugh.


P.S. The bed is finally gone from the living room! Finally.

Ruffles & Stuff

Rach and I have been feeling crafty lately. We've been eyeing these pettiskirts and finally decided to bite the bullet and make some! On Monday we busted out our sewing machines and ruffle feet and went to town. It was definitely a learning process, but by the end of today we should have two finished, and I think the next ones will be faster.

Halfway through the ruffling process, we tossed the ruffles on Emme and had an impromptu photo shoot! It was so fun, and she was so smiley. The B-man wanted in on the action, so we got a few snapshots of him, too!

B-man saw Emme on her blankie and he sat down on his and wanted us to take his picture too!

Then he took a phone camera and was holding it up to Emme and saying "cheese!" Ha ha! Mama's taught him well for photos.

Patty Cake

Emme loves to be sung to. We sing lots of songs during the day -- some primary songs, some songs my parents used to sing to me, and Emme loves it. (She also loves it when we make her arms dance to the Utah Fight Song while we watch Utah games on TV. I think it's because she bleeds red.)

Chris sometimes gets the words messed up to various play songs, and I think it's sort of funny. So I'll teach him the right words and then listen in the next time he's singing with Emme. I overheard him doing Patty Cake with Emme the other day:

"Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man,
Bake me a cake as fast as you can,
Roll it, and pat it, and mark it with an E,
And put it in the oven for Chris!"

I laughed a little and then asked Chris, "Aren't you going to share your patty cake?" He replied, "No, this one's all for me." Ha ha. Luckily Emme didn't seem to mind.

{Our little roly-poly girl}