Emme On The Loose

We put Emme down for her morning nap today like usual. She cried for a few minutes like she usually does, and then abruptly stopped. Soon after that, the monitor on our end started beeping as though the base had been unplugged.

We snuck into Emme's room and opened the door slowly, to find her like this.


She pulled herself up and was standing in her crib! Then she of course played with the monitor and unplugged it in the process. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the mattress in her crib was on its highest setting, so she could have easily fallen out if she'd tried. We're lucky we caught her in time!

Needless to say, we pulled her out, stripped the bedding, lowered the mattress, and then got her back down for her nap. I have a feeling once this girl starts going, she'll never sit still again!

Butlerville Days

Chris and Emme and I went to Butlerville Days for the first time this year. Little-Miss-Busy-Body had a GREAT time riding in the stroller and jabbering and smiling to all the people we passed. Michelle, Amy and Stu were working the Snowie snow cone stands with their friend Chantelle, so we visited them and let Emme have another taste of snow cone, which she loved.

We hung out and walked around until it was firework time, which was about 10 PM....way past this girl's bedtime. She did pretty good for the first few minutes of the fireworks show and then lost it, at which point we had to snatch up our stuff and make a run for it so we wouldn't disturb the other people there. Still, we had a fun time and we'll definitely go back next year!

John Langeland (1918-2010)

My sweet grandpa passed away this week after a three week battle with liver cancer. He was 91 years old. It was sad for us to see him go, but I know it was a happy reunion for him. In the last few weeks of his life, all of his children and grandchildren got the opportunity to take in a meal to him, since he couldn't cook for himself, and to visit with him one on one.

The day Chris and Emme and I took him dinner, I knew it was the last time I would see him in this life. As I cooked that day, I thought about what I should say to him. What would you say to someone if you knew it was the last time you would see them?

Grandpa couldn't even sit up on the couch because he was so sick, and he really couldn't eat much either. But we sat on the floor next to the couch and visited with him. We talked about life, our house, and Emme. He was always good at remembering what was going in the lives of all of his grandchildren. We talked about stocks and Zions (my grandpa was the president of Zions Bank for a while, so it's near and dear to his heart), and we talked about good memories, and my grandma. We told Grandpa we loved him, and we said our goodbyes.

My grandpa was a kind and generous man, with a wonderful sense of humor. He didn't always have a great filter between his brain and his mouth, and that's probably what we loved most about him.

Link to the obituary

{Our last dinner with grandpa}

Grandpa's funeral was was a special day for the whole family, and for all those who were there. President Monson and Elder Perry were in attendance, and both spoke during the meeting. I felt as if each speaker was talking directly to Grandpa's posterity, telling us of Grandpa's faithfulness and testimony, and urging us each to be stronger and more faithful ourselves. The grandchildren sang Army of Helaman as a musical number, with myself as the choir director. As I stood in the audience and watched his posterity sing, I was overwhelmed. What a righteous, faithful army he & my grandma created.

I left the meeting feeling inspired. I left the meeting with a greater sense of purpose and focus. I left the meeting with a determination to be a better person in every aspect of my life. It was the most spiritually life-changing meeting I've ever been to, and one that I hope to never forget.

I love you, Grandpa! We're doing our best here so we can see you again soon.

Breakfast Up The Canyon

We had a dutch oven breakfast up Millcreek Canyon with the Pace family on July 23rd. Nate and Brooke did all the cooking, so all we had to do was show up and enjoy. This breakfast happened to be the day before my Grandpa's viewing, so it was a nice chance for us all to sit around the fire and reminisce and share our memories of him. We sure miss him.

Emme At 8 Months

At 8 months, Emme:

• army crawls on her tummy
• has 2 little bottom teeth that have poked through
• smiles and laughs at anyone who'll flirt back
• loves to snuggle her blankie and animals
• loves other children

Emme's attachment anxiety has also cooled off a bit. Sometimes if she's playing with a toy, I can walk out of the room to grab something and come back without her crying. Yay! It means I get so much more done these days.

This girl is so social and fun. We walked her through the mall for the first time in months, and she had a ball. She thought everyone who was walking toward her going the other direction was walking towards her. She laughed and clapped and smiled and jabbered at every person who walked past. It was so cute!

Emme especially loves other children. (I think it's because of the 4 or 5 other kids at the babysitter with her on the days I work.) She smiles and jabbers and can't take her eyes off them!

Laundry Help

A few days ago I washed a load of Emme's laundry and dumped it on our bed. While I made dinner, Chris told me not to worry about it, because he'd fold her laundry for me. When I came in to put it away in her drawers, I found this.


Who taught this boy how to fold laundry!? At least laying it out like this kept it from wrinkling. :)

Emme's First SnoShack

Michelle, Amy, Emme and I went to get a snowshack this week. It's already July and it was my first one of the season -- sheesh! When we brought them back to the house, Emme just had to have a taste of what everyone was eating, and she loved it! She kept coming back for more and more. Every once in a while it would be too cold for her mouth and she'd spit it out. But then she came right back for another bite. She used her walked to scoot around to whoever was offering a bite, but I think she liked Amy's snowshack the best.

{purple drool}

{Aunt Amy sharing her snowshack}

Wedged

Emme has started crawling...sort of. It's more of a scoot, really. And half the time she ends up scooting backwards. So when I set her on the floor of our bedroom while I get ready in the morning, I inevitably hear her whining and turn around to find this.


Emme wedged under the bed, waiting to be rescued. We're hoping she'll figure out how to scoot forward soon.

{This girl loves her some sunglasses}

Mom's Little Gardener

Emme loves to help me in the garden. The only downside so far is figuring out how to get all the dirt out from under those tiny little fingernails!

Emme At 7 Months

So I'm a little slow getting this posted, but I really did take her pictures on her 7 month birthday!

This girl is getting bigger and more lively every day! She weighs about 15 1/2 pounds these days, so she's still a peanut who hasn't even doubled her birth weight yet. She's got some tiny feet (unlike her mom) so she is just barely fitting into size 1 shoes. We also just recently upgraded to size 2 diapers. Finally!


Emme's Favorite Things:

• Spitting when I feed her babyfood (because everyone laughs and it's oh-so-funny!)
  
• Swimming & splashing in the water
  
• Getting up on her hands & knees and rocking like she wants to crawl
• Grabbing your face with both hands and giving big, open-mouthed, wet kisses
• Babbling all day long (she's mastered the N, M, B and D consonants)
• Wearing her sunglasses
• Playing with and watching other children
  
• Making squish-face smiles
• Playing with trucks & cars (Chris loves this)
  
• Mom

Emme's Not So Favorite Things:

• When mom sets her down or walks out of the room (please tell me this is just a phase!)
• Cutting teeth (we've got one, finally!)
• Holding still during diaper changes
• Table food. Yuck! Gimme babyfood any day.

In other news, it only took Emme 7 months of picture-taking to realize she was sitting next to the bunny. Nom, nom, nom.

Happy 4th!