Future Husband Found

Well, Miss Emma certainly has all her bases covered. She already has a best friend lined up (Makena), a bodyguard (Evan), and now a boyfriend, whom we shall call "Cricket." The latest edition to her entourage was unmistakable this past weekend, when our friends Cara and Bryan came in from Maryland and brought their adorable little boy with them. The two of them instantly clicked.

In one corner, there is Cricket: the active, yet patient male with a great sense of style and amazing athletic abilities such as standing on his own. In the other corner, we have Emma: the active, yet impatient female who appreciates a well-dressed man and is eager to learn as many tricks as you can teach her.

The outcome: Emma can now wave, say Mama, and is more determined than ever to stand. Cricket is now standing on his own for long periods of time and is more patient than ever after dealing with Emma's countless body slams and hair tugs. I swear he smiled and giggled even more after these episodes! Ahhhh.. true love.

To say the weekend was fun is a complete understatement. Watching these two cuties interact was so cool. They truly had NO PROBLEMS being around each other. In fact, they acted like they have always shared the same home. They played nicely together, happily exchanging toys and drool, but they also did their own thing, knocking each other down or crawling over each other to get to their intended destination. Thank goodness we have photos and videos to remember it all. And yes, to Jeff's dismay, we took the bathtub shot -- it was a must (although it might as well have been an Olympic sport trying to get these two to sit still for one nice shot!)

Of course, it was also nice for me to have a playmate around. Cara and I go WAY back to 6th grade and have had our ups and downs since she moved out east. Thankfully, it was in God's plan for us to reunite for the most exciting times of our lives. We reconnected just before her and Bryan got engaged a little over 2 years ago. I was able to stand up in her wedding, and we ended up "planning" our pregnancies at the same time (without even knowing it). It has been such a blessing having her by my side these last few years. She truly brings a new perspective to my life. We are different, but the same in many ways. I mean how many people can go a year without seeing each other in person, but live together for 5 days straight with total ease. I truly believe we were meant to be friends and will be for many, many, many years ahead.

Okay, okay, back to Emma. As you know, our bunny is already 8 months old and is quickly crawling toward 9 months. She is into everything she shouldn't be and thinks she can stand by herself, although she hasn't quite worked that out with her legs yet. Thank goodness for the cushion of a diaper. I hear nothing but that thud ALL.DAY.LONG.

Food is still a hang up for us. Emma loves anything I give her, but her tummy still isn't sure about anything other than her formula and cereal. Carrots failed, but sweet potatoes and squash seemed to have been okay. Bananas and now peas seem to be questionable. Both showed some signs of reaction, but I am not totally convinced. I stopped bananas before we could get confirmation, and we're still working on peas. I'm not sure how much of this is her system getting used to new foods and how much of it is her system rejecting the foods. Needless to say, I am anxious for our next doctor's appt., which is on May 18. I am ready with a long list of questions!

As I said, Mamamamama is our newest word, and baba is also finding its way into her vocab. Dada is still there, but you need to ask for it a few times before she'll repeat. I don't think she quite knows what the words really mean yet, but they are still music to my ears. That little voice just melts my heart, even when it isn't so little (which is most of the time!)

We've been working on waving for a while, but she seems to have finally picked it up. She will do it in response, but only when she wants to, which seems to be a recurring personality trait. :o)

Her naps and sleep habits are okay on the whole, but still fluctuate between good and bad days/nights. I'm very good about respecting her nap and bed times, but I've come to the conclusion that she'll get as much sleep as she needs. I can't make her stay asleep; I can only make sure she gets the rest when she needs it. If she wakes up, there's not much I can do about it.

That should do it for now. I will be posting photos of our fun weekend with Cara, Bryan, and Cricket over the next few days. Stay tuned!

We Won!!!

Hey everyone! You're persistance paid off -- Emma won the photo contest! Not that we're shocked she is the cutest baby or anything, but it is fun to let the world know too! :o) We even get some cool prizes -- a changing pad, burp cloth and bib gift set. Check it out here.

Thanks to everyone who voted. We love you all!

Our Little Bunny

What's in this thing?

Keep Voting!!!

Remember to keep voting for Emma until Monday!! My friend Cara just started a new web site (www.urbanbabyrunway.com) that reviews hip baby wear and gear. To kick off her site, she is having a photo contest of the cutest baby enjoying the recent spring weather.

Of course, we all know Emma is a shoe-in for this contest (hee, hee!), but we need your help to prove it! Here is the link for voting: Urban Baby Runway

Voting is from 4.10 - 4.17. You are only allowed 1 vote per IP every 14 hours. The winner will be announced on 4.18. If we win, we do get some cute, free stuff, but really it's all about telling the world what we already knew... Emma is the cutest Spring Chicken! :o)

Love you all!
Lisa

Double Trouble

We now have two teeth! The other one popped up on Sunday, and boy must it be bothering her. At least that's what I am attributing her recent melt downs to. It doesn't really seem to be bothering her at night, but she is totally clingy and is going through MAJOR stranger danger. Maybe it has nothing to do with teeth and is just "a stage," but I hope it passes soon. I love my babe, but this whole crying and thrashing business gets old fast! I am already picturing the clashes we may have later in life as my little princess gets more strong willed. Lord, help me!

On that note, it comes as no surprise that she is EXTREMELY determined to stand.I mean, this child is not happy unless she is standing. I leave her alone for a second and she is propped up on something or she is stuck in the squating position on the floor. Not sure if this is a sign of early walking, but I am exhausted. It's like I'm a human jungle gym! I didn't even realize how used to this I was until the other night when she was "playing" on my lap (i.e., climbing up my chest, grabbing my face, pulling my hair, and pinching my neck), and Jeff was like, "Be nice to your Mommy, Emma." He then gives me a kiss and says, "Lisa, are you okay?" Honestly, I didn't even realize that anything out of the ordinary was going on. This is what we do ALL.DAY.LONG. As long as those nails are cut, I'm good!:o)

Emma's turns 8 months on Friday. Can you believe it? I can't - it's crazy how fast this has all gone by. People always tell you that, but like everything in Mommyland, you don't believe it's true until you've experienced it. Nine months used to seem so far away and now it's just around the corner.

I haven't really taken a ton of photos lately, but here's a few of her playing with her favorite "toys." Who needs Fisher Price?

No You Didn't

Just in case you were wondering...

You did NOT see a knock-off of Emma's adorable, non-refundable Easter dress for a mere FORTY DOLLARS less at Target. It is an illusion. Emma has a one-of-a-kind, well-made, and totally-worth-it dress and shrug that are NOT making me regret splurging on something she will only wear twice if we are lucky.

Just wanted to make that clear...

On the Move

Well, we knew it was coming... Emma is crawling. It actually started hours after my last post (of course!), but that was only a few scoots. She is now moving across the floor, although she still doesn't quite understand that this means she can go wherever she wants to... thank goodness! That gives us some time to baby proof! I have video to share, but I haven't had time to look into how to get it on the blog, so bear with me. Hopefully I'll get that up and running soon.

We also had to move our little bunny's crib matress down since she is constantly trying to stand. After a few nights of worrying she might fall out or bang her head on the ledge, we finally moved it all the way down. And I think she likes it that way. The other day she didn't call for me until 20 minutes after she woke up from her nap. She was having a good 'ole time just playing with her binkie and her blanket. I heard her moving around and went upstairs to get her, but she didn't even notice me. Usually she is staring at the door with those big blue eyes. This time it was me staring at her -- she is so much fun to watch. I have also gotten better about letting her play by herself, and she really enjoys it. I even cleaned the entire downstairs yesterday without one complaint out of her. She's such a good girl!

So, we're doing great. Jeff went away this past weekend with our youth group, so I was a single mom for an entire weekend, which was interesting. We had lots of places to go, so it was a bit exhausting. Needless to say, it was really nice to have Jeff home Sunday night. I think Emma was getting sick of me! :o)