Mom's Little Helper

This girl wants to be mobile SO BADLY. She gets around pretty good on her tummy, rolling and scooting towards what she wants. And she LOVES the walker. She strolls all around the kitchen island, yanking on cupboards, pulling down towels, and playing with anything she can reach! (Time to start babyproofing, no?)

I must confess, I'm afraid that the second this girl takes off crawling I'll never see her again. It makes me so sad that she's getting so big! She's not my little cuddly baby any more!

{Helping mom with dinner. And trying to open the cupboards.}

{Look at me, dad, I'm a big girl!}

{Pulling down the dish towels and talking to her reflection.}

Facing My Fears

I figured since 2010 is halfway over, it's about time to get cracking on a few of my new year's resolutions! We cooked dinner at home this past Sunday (which doesn't happen very often), and since I had all afternoon to prepare I figured I'd try my hand at some homemade french bread. I have a fear of yeast and anything that needs to "rise." But I'm happy to say this bread was super simple and so yummy! All it took was plenty of time to let it do it's thing. I feel so domestic! Hopefully this is the start of something wonderful.

Ruined Some More

Chris has this thing he does with Emme. He makes a face at her and she makes it back to him. It started out being a "kiss" face, with puckered lips. Now we lovingly call it the "squish" face, because that's what it looks like on Emme. Squished.

Here's a cute video of Emme when she was first learning how to imitate it. We thought it was pretty cute at first.

Then last week I plopped Emme on the chair next to her bunny for her 7 month photos. I pulled out the camera, and when I told Emme to say cheese, this is what happened...

I got the squish face. I kid you not, like half of the photos I took are like this. It took me forever to get a few decent ones!

I'm hoping this face is just a phase, and that we haven't permanently ruined her smile!

Ruffly Fashion Show

The Ways In Which We Ruin Our Children

Chris and I are pretty sure we've already ruined our child. And it only took us seven months! I'm sure that deserves some sort of an award or something. How have we ruined her, you ask? I will tell you. Emme is addicted. Already.

Addiction #1: The computer
I blog a lot. (This is no secret.) I frequently do this with one hand while nursing the Bambina and balancing a laptop across my knees. (I've got 20 minutes to kill six times a day, so sue me.)

Emme has now become accustomed to the sound of typing on the keyboard. If I try to hold her on my lap while sitting near a computer, she can't help but want to run her fingers across the keyboard and "type" like mom. It's pretty hilarious! She even cries if you try to take it away. Oh, boy.

{Blogging something very important}

{Just look at that face! So happy.}

Addiction #2: The Television
Chris loves the TV about as much as I love the computer. (Translation: too much.) He can't go to bed at night without unwinding with it for a few minutes, and he's a sucker for a good Saturday morning cartoon. Ever since she was little, Emme loved the sight and sound of the TV. We always tried to face her away from it when it was on. But now that she's roly-poly, it's nearly impossible.

If you set her on the couch next to you, she'll sit upright like a big girl. It's her new favorite trick. Once you turn that TV on, she gets super still like a statue, with her eyes glued to the screen. I caught dad & Emme watching some cartoons one morning and they were both so glued to the action they hardly noticed I was snapping pictures.

{Look at that face! So intense.}

{My big girl, the couch potato.}

It's Still Here.

The mullet is still here. Just in case you were wondering.



Chris thinks it makes her look a little Joe Dirt-ish.


I think it makes her look a little Carol Brady-ish. (Seriously, I'm tempted to bust out the curling iron and give the ends a little pizazz.)

What do you think?

Grass & Big Girl High Chairs

A few weeks ago we walked through a house with Daniel & Julie and some of the Pace family. After we walked through, we sat Emme on the grass and, to our surprise, she loved it. (The last time we set her on the grass she hated it!)

Then we went to Barbacoa for dinner and Emme got her first experience in a big-girl high chair at the restaurant. She was able to be up and looking around at everyone, which made the little diva feel like the big girl she wants to be. So fun!

Houdini

{Yes, I'm a bad mom. I took a picture before I picked her up because I couldn't figure out how she did this to her swaddler!}

This little Houdini has a magical way of wiggling out of her swaddle blankets. I'm not quite sure how she does it sometimes. She grabby and wiggly and now she's roly-poly. Since it's gotten hot, we've stopped swaddling her because she gets too sweaty, and she's discovered the joys of tummy sleeping!

Grabby Hands

Emme is so grabby lately! She'll twist and turn and stretch to reach whatever it is she's wanting to touch & play with.

I've had a bag of potatoes on the counter for a few days waiting for me to make it into a giant batch of freezer mashed potatoes from Fix, Freeze, Feast. Emme was so fascinated by the texture and noise of the bag, she would grab at it and play with it every time I set her in her bumbo on the counter to eat. It made it so hard to get the spoon in her mouth!

Finally Chris got tired of her twisting around in her seat while he tried to feed her, so he gave her what she wanted...

Adventures with the B-Man

These are a few random pictures from the times Emme gets to hang out with the B-man. We think they might have to get married someday! B-man is learning to share these days and he's doing such a good job! He thought it was a hilaroius to share his glasses with Emme. And she didn't seem to mind!


B-man came over to grandma Pace's with Emme to give his mom a rest for a bit. Emme shared her high chair with him and he loved it!


Then the B-man rode is tricycle all the way to our house like a big boy to show it to Emme! He even let her try it out and ring the bell. He thought it was hilarious to see her on it and she loved it!

Taunting

Emme has been taunting her dad lately.

"Niener, neiner! I can eat chips and you can't!"

I'm pretty sure it's killing him.

Date Night 2

Last Saturday after our fun swim party, Chris's sister Charity was nice enough to watch Emme for us while we went on a date. She even volunteered on her own! What a saint. This was only our second date night alone since Emme was born!

{Freedom! Our first few moments of baby-less-ness.}

On our first date night we saw a movie and then ended up rushing home to eat dinner, and we didn't get a chance to really talk. Isn't that really the whole point of a date? So I decreed no movies this time. Instead, we decided to go to dinner & to Cabela's to spend a gift card that we had gotten for our wedding (four years ago!). Plus I'd never been there before, so we made a date of it.

I decided Cabela's is sort of a bizarre place. It's like they can't decide if they're a superstore or a redneck museum. What the heck?

Out of all the stuff outdoorsy, campy things they carry at Cabela's that are right up Chris's alley, we ended up buying clothes and candy with our giftcard. Just seems wrong, doesn't it? (But hey, dessert is dessert.)

After Cabela's we went to dinner at Wingers. Mmm-mmm! Love their chicken. It was so nice to eat dinner without tiny little grabby fingers all over my plate.

{Don't worry, I skipped the spicy salsa. Just in case you were wondering.}

Thanks again, Charity (& Wade & Hannah & Logan & Pat)!

Aunt Lynne's Birthday Party

On Saturday we had a super fun birthday part for aunt Lynne. She rented out an amazing hotel pool and party room, and we had such a blast eating and swimming and hanging out with the whole family!

Emme loved her floaty toy! The pool was just the right depth for her to reach the bottom so she could stand up and "bounce."

Then when she got tired of bouncing, she laid back and relaxed in it. This thing was worth every penny! ($15 bucks at Target)

Emme and dad having a good time. Emme's face looks so excited in this picture!

Playing with mom.

The whole little fam.

Braden loving his floaty toy.

The boys playing some hoops.

Chris at the top of the giant water slide.

Chris coming down the slide. For some reason, the only thing I could ever catch on camera were his feet! I have like six pictures of them.

I decided to brave the slide once Charity convinced me I could do it without getting my hair wet.

Me at the top of the slide.

Chris says I look like a two year old coming down the slide in this picture. I was trying so hard to sit upright all the way down to keep the hair dry!

Wade-dog coming down the slide.

Stacey at the bottom of the slide.

Hannah at the bottom of the slide.

Grandma and Grandpa were able to watch us swim from the party room up above. It was such a great setup for a party.

Emme snuggling with Charity.

Mom and Emme drying off.

Thanks again, aunt Lynne! We had such a great time!