9 months old

Oh, this child.  9 months have gone by in a flash, and she is officially a laughing, waving, clapping, crawling little girl.  I call her little goose because she is such a silly goose.  Everything amuses her.  The dogs, HER SISTER, noises, music, you name it and she loves it.  We had our very first ear infection this month, but other than that she is doing amazing.  She is still nursing, but has transitioned to finger foods and some solids like a pro.  She takes two naps a day-the first one is about two hours after she wakes up and the second one is three hours after that.  The day after she started crawling she also learned how to pull herself up on the furniture and has been cruising around ever since.  

I got her to sit still for the first picture, and every picture after that was her in a different spot.  What a wonder to behold she is!

Trick or Treat

Halloween festivities started early with spider pops and treat bags for Charlotte's class.

Unfortunately we spent the night before Halloween with a sick baby.  Emily was up four times before my alarm goes off at 4:30, so I made the executive decision to call in for a sub so I could take her to the doctor. We managed to make it 9 months without an ear infection but the doctor confirmed that both of Emily's ears were infected.  She'd had a cold for a couple of days already but it was nice to know that the fussiness was something we could give her medicine for and help her feel better.  

Charlotte was super excited for Halloween this year.  She got to wear her costume to school and go "trick or treating" to the different classrooms then came home for some more door to door action.  Since Emily was sick we just took her to our neighbors house and then I brought her back home for an early bedtime. 

 Charlotte had such a good time.  She was shy at the first door and then for the rest of them walked right up and said her please and thank yous.  Of course we have enough candy for a small army now, but she is super happy.

Charlotte requested a dolphin pumpkin (we are still in our mermaid phase) and Bryce made her dolphin dreams come true.  It turned out really good!

The sunshines calling my name

We literally woke up (early) one morning and said "look at that sunshine"!  We might not get another warm day like this, let's GO!  After wolfing down breakfast and a stop at starbucks for fall lattes we were basically the only ones at the park.  Emily got her very first ride in a swing and Charlotte got free run of the playground.  It was a perfect morning.

Pumpkin Patch

A beautiful fall day had us itching to head out to a pumpkin patch.  We love Burt's Pumpkin farm out in Dahlonega, but with two different nap times, plus feeding times for Emily it seemed like too far of a drive.  After searching on the internet, we realized that there was a pumpkin patch about ten minutes away and it was perfect.  We got face painting, a hay ride, some good pictures, and some good pumpkins and were back home in time for naps!

Pumpkin carving 2012

They grow so fast

Charlotte is finally warming up to Emily.  The whole time I was pregnant I was sure that our problem would be Charlotte wanting to be TOO involved, but I really think that Charlotte getting so sick back to back when we brought Emily home and us constantly having to say "don't touch the baby" really affected Charlotte's emotional feelings towards Emily.  Now that Emily is able to smile and interact and they can play a little bit together things are looking better between them.  Charlotte is always a willing helper of pretty much anything I ask (except poopy diapers)  but she is finally asking if she can help do things that include Emily too.

After Charlotte's four year check up we realized that Charlotte is now big enough for a booster seat.  The timing actually worked out really well because Emily is ready to move out of the infant carrier too.  Charlotte could not be more excited about her big girl ride!

This one made me sad with Charlotte, and it made me sad with Emily too.  We had to drop her crib.  Your heart literally jumps out of your chest when you open the door and see your little baby's head popping over the crib and it's not supposed to be.

One last look at the not so baby Emily in her raised up crib!

Emily is sitting up with absolutely no problem, can reach forward, scoot on her bottom, lays down on her belly and rolls to wherever she wants to go.

We put the swing back up in the backyard now that Emily is a little more stable and she LOVES it.  Charlotte gets to play with her sandbox, the dogs run around, we enjoy the fall weather and AHHH.....

Eight Months

Eight months have flown by in a flash.  Emily is becoming much more mobile.  She is scooting around backwards on her hands and knees, and has this way of pushing herself on her bottom to get where she wants to go.  Or if all else fails she just rolls there.  She is trying new foods every week, and really prefers finger foods to her baby food.  She has oatmeal or rice cereal with breakfast and dinner and I mix in her fruits and veggies but she always gets something on her tray too from our meal.  Small pieces of bread, or fruit, or cheerios.  She does love yogurt and cheese, but I have to be careful about those and give her prunes with it.  She is not crazy about meat though.  Even if it is mixed with something else she knows it and spits it out.  She is still napping twice a day and gets 6 ounces of breastmilk every four hours.  She goes right to bed around 7:30 and if I get up and nurse her around 4:30 then she will keep sleeping until 8:00.  She loves it when we stack blocks so she can knock them over, and loves any toy that makes noise.  She is also making lots of noise herself.  She started "ma ma" sounds and "ba ba" sounds.  She also loves to echo.  If you make any kind of noise at her she will do it right back to you, only louder!  She will give you a wet kiss now too! She is a smiley, giggly, sweet little girl who makes our family so happy!