Playing with Daddy

Gimme Five

She loves the glass table in the kitchen.

Pushing the Chair

This is her new game. She'll push the chair back and forth many times before tiring of it.

Helping in the Kitchen

This activity kept her occupied and happy for at least 20 minutes!

Cars and Cell Phones Don't Mix

Em's already using the cell phone when driving.
She must have learned it from her Daddy.

Puttin' up the Tree

Looking Back...11 Weeks

I can just hear her:
"IF YOU TAKE MY SEA HORSEY, I WILL KARATE CHOP YOU."

Sometimes...

she falls asleep smack-dab in the middle

of the floor because she played way too

hard before bedtime. Sometimes.

First Halloween

Emerson was Jackie Kennedy for Halloween.

She wore pearls and carried a matching clutch purse.

I think she captured her essence nicely, though she was mistaken

for Michelle Obama.

First Foods

Emerson has been eating up a storm! Among the favorites so far: oatmeal, peas, green beans, and squash! Oh, and this is during a morning feeding with DADDY, who Em and I both blame for the mess.

Almost Crawling?

Watch out! By the start of 6 months, Em can scoot backwards and get up on her hand and knees.

Expert Sitter!

Some time during her 5th month, Emerson became quite the independent sitter. She occasionally gets so busy sitting and playing, she forgets that she is in fact sitting, and she'll tip right over!

First Tooth!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tooth! We are up in Watertown for the Labor Day weekend, and this morning little E was just chilling in my lap, sucking on things. Eventually she made her way to my finger, and bam-o! There it was--Her first tooth on the bottom, a little to the left. Can't believe we didn't notice it sooner. She hadn't been fussy at all (with the exception of the beginning of this week at day care) and had been drooling for MONTHS, so that wasn't any sort of indication. What a little stinker! Growing a tooth when we weren't looking!

5 months!

Where does the time go? Look at my baby,

all grown up! Thanks again, Angela Hartwig, Photographer

Extraordinaire!

Em LOVES her G-funkel Evan

We were blessed with a visit from

Godfather Evan, all the way from

Brooklyn! He had magic ju-ju

and could always make Em happy.

20 Weeks: Baptism!

Sunday, August 16, 2009. Emerson's baptism.

Rev. Adam Weber, officiating (is that what they

call it?)

Don't we photograph well? God-parents

Jennifer Lacher and Evan Gregory.

(Andrew Breitenberg in spirit.)

19 Weeks: Bloomers & Books

I stamped Em a new onesie to match her jean skirt
and bloomers. The skirt didn't stay on long, but the
bloomers were too cute to take off.

She's reaching for her new favorite book, Dr. Seuss's
"Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?"
It has now surpassed all of the Sandra Boynton books.

18 Wild Weeks

Wow-za, you miss one week of photos, and she REALLY changes....

17 Weeks

We have had an emotional morning. Well, maybe more so for MOM than Emerson. Emerson's morning was flawless. She ate exactly on schedule with no fussing, and went to sleep for her morning nap exactly on schedule with no fussing. And as I type, she continues to sleep well past her (usually) 30 minute minimum.

The emotional parts came before and during her nap. Pre-nap, we spent some time in her room dancing to a little Jack Johnson. Who wouldn't be in a good mood after listening to some Jack J? Anyway, sometime around our third dance or so, I noticed Emerson really looking at something. I turned to see what it was, and saw that the framed photo of her Grandma Vicki had caught her eye. I stopped dancing and held the frame up for her to look at, and told her, "This is your Grandma Vicki." Em immediately smiled at the photo. We shared some time just looking at it, and I kept telling her, "That's Grandma Vicki." It touched me how she responded to the photo of the grandma she'll never meet.

During her nap, I had the opportunity to call Andrew, Em's godfather, who is living in Virginia Beach for a short time before moving permanently to South Africa. He is unable to attend her baptism, and wanted to talk some things over before writing a piece that he wants read at the service. What a beautiful heart he has, and I'm glad Em will have him in her life.

Just showin' off.

Some of my fave photos from last week.

16 Weeks: She laughs!

Emerson has now discovered that her legs work--marvelously--at holding her entire body weight up. She loves it when you hold her on your lap and let her "stand" and to show her delight, she has started responding in laughter. It takes some laughter from us first, but she does indeed laugh in response, and it is a remarkable sound.

15 Weeks: The Exer-saucer

Em really enjoyed her first time in the Exer-saucer (un-aided). She was very busy checking it all out, but couldn't quite figure out how to turn the chair. She also enjoyed using her strong legs to hold herself up.

15 Weeks- Rolling Over

I don't want to just lay here on my back...
I think I'll turn over....
I'm good at getting on to my stomach!
I think I'll just hang out here for a while.


Although Emerson has been rolling over from her back to stomach for a few weeks now, this is really the first week she's been successful at getting herself BACK over from stomach to back. To her credit, she did it once at 14 weeks, but it could have been a fluke! Video that Hugh took shows how excited he is for this this milestone.

1st 4th of July

Emerson spent the morning posing with mom, and the evening watching donkey baseball and the fireworks display in Strandburg, SD. Yes, she stayed WIDE awake for the entire fireworks display, didn't cry a bit, and appeared to love every minute of it. We were all so concerned that the noise would bother her, but it certainly didn't. She was exhausted afterwards, and fell asleep instantly in the car on the way home.

14 Weeks--Trying out the Bumbo

13 Weeks

A Family Ride in the Fiesta

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

12 Weeks

I rolled over from my back to my belly this week,

but couldn't figure out how to get back over!

Mom's Favorite Outfit

"Hug Me" one-sie with Baby Legs.

11 Weeks

9 Weeks

I love this quilt Great Grandma made for mom,

so I am claiming it as my own. She won't mind.

8 Weeks: Gap Baby

7 Weeks: What a deer!