I love peas!

Emma's first ferris wheel ride

Eating goldfishies at Chung's

Emma's first Tigers game

July 9

A picture I forgot to post from January 18

After swimming at Grandma's house

This is one of my favorite photos! She's all snuggled up in a beach towel after swimming, and munching on Cheez-Its.

Bath time at the cabin

We decided to give Emma a bath in the wash basin at the cabin. It's the same bathtub that I apparently took baths in as well as both Aunt Karen and Aunt Vicki. Emma loved it. She got to pound on the side of it with a tin cup, and splash around and have a great time.


Emma loves her bath!


Emma taking a bath in the old wash tub at the cabin, June 26, 2005.


Mommy and Daddy giving Emma a bath.

Traverse City, June 2004

On a hot summer afternoon, we went to the beach to play in the water of Traverse Bay. Emma loved it! She splashed and crawled in the sand, and seemed to really enjoy the water even though it was a bit chilly. The sun was out and the temperature in Traverse City hit a record high of 94, so we didn't spend much time out in the hot sun, but Emma still had lots of fun!


Traverse Bay, as seen from our hotel.


Emma playing in Traverse Bay, June 24


Emma loves the water!


Emma playing in the sand in Traverse City.

Father's Day at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Today we spent the afternoon at Grandma M and Grandpa M's house for a Father's Day lunch. Emma gnawed on a teething bagel outside on the deck, then after lunch zoomed around the living room with Uncle Aaron on a Mickey Mouse 'big wheel' bike. Emma can't quite ride the big wheel by herself, but she can now crawl very quickly, and can even pull herself up and cruise around furniture. She seems to have a pretty good sense of balance, although this afternoon Grandma S came over and Emma fell while standing next to an end table and bruised her cheek.

At the doctor's office, June 14

Emma went to the doctor for her nine-month checkup today. She is still in the 90th percentile as far as head size, but is in a much smaller percentile as far as weight and body length. Everything checked out just fine!

Sleeping on Mommy's lap

Emma plays in the sprinkler

Crawling June 2

I can crawl!

As of Sunday night, Emma can crawl! She started crawling while we were staying over at the Holiday Inn in Grayling. She doesn't seem nearly as easily frustrated now as she used to be when she would lay on her tummy. Tonight I snapped these photos of her in the living room, crawling to get her dolly. She can occasionally even crawl over to something, like the coffee table, and then pull herself up to a standing position.

She's also started becoming more mobile in general... up until now, she wouldn't willingly roll over onto her back from her tummy, but now she has no problem doing it. In fact, quite often she will move from a crawling position to a sitting position as though she's known how to all along. It's amazing how fast she has grown these past 9 months.

Emma loves to swing!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Emma so far. She was SO happy to be on the swing set at the park in Presque Isle. For her, I think this was the highlight of the weekend!


Jordan gives Emma a little push


Abbi, Eric, Jordan and Emma have fun on the swings in Harrisville Harbor Park during Memorial Day Weekend

Emma and Mommy visiting the Old Presque Isle lighthouse 

Emma's not too sure about the grass.

Very first haircut

On the way to get her first haircut! 


You can really see how long her hair was getting in this photo. In a couple of places it was nearly to the middle of her back. She loves to ride in her stroller, by the way.  


Emma sits on a carousel horse for her first haircut at Carousel Cuts.  


She sits very still for the trim. There was a lot to see in the salon... including a Disney movie on TV! 


Emma's hairstylist has to work fast before Emma pitches a fit or decides to eat the carousel horse! She never fussed or cried at all the whole time. What a big girl! 


Emma, sitting in the grass at our house, just hours after we shelled out $25 for a 3-minute haircut! (Did you notice the very stylish belly-button ring t-shirt she is wearing?) 

Emma, May 2005

Emma, May 2005. This picture was taken with my camera phone at the Boston Market restaurant near our house, during dinner. We had turkey, and she ate fruit puffs and dropped them all over the floor!

Standing up all by herself

Tonight she did it -- she grabbed the side of her crib and pulled herself completely up to a standing position, then squealed with glee! She was so proud of herself, or at least that's how it looked to us. She actually did it three different times. We honestly think she might just start walking and skip completely over the whole crawling thing. She has still only been able to get her knees up under her with Mommy's help, and then is not inclined to move from that position, but she loves to pull herself up and stand. The crib rail wasn't set in the "up" position tonight so it was easy enough for her to grab onto... there's no way she could reach the top if the side was all the way up.

Emma has also decided that she usually needs to be near someone. When we walk out of the room briefly and leave her sitting there alone, she often starts crying and yelling, until one of us comes back to sit with her or pick her up. She does love to be held, and it's hard not to pick her up when she is crying but it's obviously a thing she has learned... if she cries, someone will pick her up and carry her around. She would rather be held with no toys or books than sitting alone with toys but no people nearby.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy weekend day. We would love to take Emma for more springtime walks in the stroller, but it seems like the weather is nice when we're at work and then rains all weekend every time.

Another milestone

Last night, Nichole called me upstairs to see something. I went into Emma's room, and Emma had pulled herself up to the side of the crib, all by herself, from a sitting position. I think that had she not been in her pajamas (a "sleep-sack"), she might have even been able to pull herself to a sitting position. She was very proud of herself. Of course, we immediately lowered the crib mattress!

Emma is getting bigger all the time. Lately she has been babbling more, and you can really see her fine motor skills starting to improve. She is not crawling yet, however. Nichole has helped her onto her knees a couple of times, and she definitely does the rocking back and forth thing that most babies do before they crawl, but she doesn't seem to be able to get herself onto her knees alone yet. And she just gets mad when it's tummy time! She is still a very sweet baby... we took her to a bowling alley this weekend to bowl with Tricia, Craig, Sue, Brian and all their kids and she was in a good mood the whole time, despite all the noise and being handed off from one person to another for several hours.

She also seems much happier now that the teething has slowed down. She has two bottom teeth, two teeth on the top (but not the ones in the middle, so she is going to look like a little jack o'lantern for a while) and one more that seems to be poking through on the top as well. For a while, she was pretty cranky, and we weren't sure if it was the teething or if our luck had just run out... but it seems to be that when her teeth were breaking through, she was crabbier. She is back to being a very sweet little baby!

Nap Time

Daddy and Emma take a nap together on a snowy Sunday afternoon. 

It snowed again here on April 22, 2005 -- about 8 inches! 

You know you're tired when...

You know you're tired when you can lean over to pick up your blankie and fall asleep in that position! 

Tuckered out after a busy day at daycare... 

Emma and Uncle Dennis play with his RC mini-cooper 

Emma's first word!

Today, Emma said what we believe is her first word... she said "Dada" very loudly and clearly a number of times. She made some babbling noises, then very clearly in the middle of it said "Dada". Then she said it again a few seconds later, without any extra babbling. Jordan, Abbi, Nichole and I all heard it very plainly. Don't know if it's a fluke, but it certainly sounded like she was saying "Dada". And on her seven-month birthday and Jordan's birthday too!

I love green beans! 

More teeth!

We checked tonight, and Emma has three more teeth! One on the top has come completely through (almost overnight) and two more are on their way. The weird thing is that they aren't her two front top teeth... they are the ones to either side of the front teeth. I joked with Nichole that she's going to look like a jack o'lantern... with the two middle teeth on the bottom, and then the ones on either side of the front spaces on top.

Despite the fact that her teeth are coming in, she is remarkably happy, and has been having belly laughs all day. She's drooling and definitely always has her fingers in her mouth, but she's not crabby at all. I guess we're lucky there, from what I know of teething!

Emma, April 2 

Getting bigger

We took Emma for her 6 month doctor's appointment not too long ago. She now weighs over 15 pounds, and is in the 50th percentile for length and weight, but still the 90th percentile for head size. Just like her brother and sister!

She is getting bigger all the time. She has been eating baby food for a while now (her favorites seem to be sweet potatoes, pears, and oatmeal) and lately she has been "scootching"... pushing herself backwards a little bit when she is on her tummy. She finds it very frustrating, to be trying to reach for something but ending up further away from it. She can also sit unassisted (if you put her in position) and can reach down to pick up toys and then sit back up. She has two bottom teeth now, but by the way she is drooling we wouldn't be surprised to see some more poke through soon.

She is still a super-happy baby. She only fusses if she is hungry, and she smiles at us all the time. Lately, though, she has been going through a phase where she seems wary of strangers (or people she hasn't seen in a few days)... for example, Aunt Karen and Aunt Vicki. She seems to get over it quickly, but sometimes when we hand her off to other people, she looks back at us as if to say "don't leave me!"

More later -- for now, we're off to the store!