Funny Face

This is Emerson the other day when we met up with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate Rico's birthday. She has been making funny faces lately, especially with her lips. Her vocalizations are becoming more distinct with actual sounds. I guess she is just learning to move her lips and tongue in different ways to produce different sounds. It's so cute when she tries to mimic us. No "Mama" yet, but we are working on it!

P.S. If you look closely, you can see that her eyelashes are wet...she had started to cry when we first go to the restaurant and was a little overwhelmed.

Reverse Mullet

This is Emerson after her bath the other day after I dried her hair. It's long on the top and front, and short on the back and sides. The reverse of a mullet. So with Emerson, it's "Party in the front, business in the back". When Emerson was born, she had a full head of hair, most of which has fallen out. I think the long hair on top is "original" and the short hair is "new". Emerson loves this "after-bath" time--she loves the lotions and laughs and giggles and talks up a storm as she gets ready for bed. As she falls asleep, I run my fingers through the "party" section, which is the part of "after-bath" that I love.

Busy Weekend

On Saturday, Emerson turned 7 months old. I know I say this every month, but it seems like she was just born the other day. Baby girl is growing and getting strong. This girl can sit up by herself and wants to do it all the time. She is also busy rolling over. She has some new friends, specifically her hair brush, her giraffe teether/rattle and ANY piece of paper. At a recent doctor's visit, Emerson kept fighting the doctor, who wanted to look up her nose. Emerson was congested as it was and it just go worse with the crying, so the doctor was using a Kleenex to wipe her nose and Emerson kept trying to grab it. So I gave her her own Kleenex and she was then happy enough to let the doctor look up her nose and in both ears (all was fine, we just changed her from Zyrtec to Clarinex, which is working GREAT!). The other day, Emerson was playing in her crib and she kept trying to get up on her knees. Emerson doesn't have teeth yet, but the buds are there and she is chewing on anything and everything, so I guess it won't be too long before she has some Chiclets in her mouth. She is such a sweet baby, generally happy and full of laughs and smiles. She is getting VERY vocal and loves to "sing". We are just so in awe of our baby and love every day with her.

On Sunday, we celebrated Rico's birthday (he's 29 - again), as well as his first Father's Day. Emerson got her dad a card, "made" him an HEB cake and got him some really cool t-shirts (this is one from the most recent Woot-Off). Rico is such a good dad, but that doesn't surprise me as he is a great husband. Emerson LOVES her dad and is always so happy to see him. This makes me especially happy when she wakes up at 4am and it's her Dad who goes and gets her and soothes her back to sleep. Rico does it all and I am proud to say that he has had pee, poop, throw-up, spit-up, snot, saliva and breast milk (NOT directly from me) on him at one time or another since Emerson was born and he has worn his stained shirts with pride. Thanks for being such a great dad, Dood. OH, and Happy Birthday, old man!

New Fun

With "old" stuff.

Rico recently inherited a laptop, which he overhauled and got all fixed up for me with a new battery and wireless connection so I am portable! The mouse pad does not work on the laptop, so I had to get this really cool red wireless mouse! I have been wanting a laptop since my visit with my family last summer and now that Emerson is here, it's alot easier to check e-mail, blog, pay bills, etc. in the same room she's in. I like it so much I am thinking of getting rid of my desktop, which served me well through grad school, but is a bit much right now. Anyone want a Dell desktop? With computer armoire?

I am not the only one who gets the benefit of something used. Amy and Alex so graciously let Emerson borrow Alex's jump-a-roo. Emerson tried it out at Amy's house and loved it. We have been putting her in it everyday and she is starting to move her legs a little to get it to move although she is most interested in the toys that are attached. Thanks everyone for so kindly donating your stuff to us!

Friends and Lunch

Today we met up with Amy and Alex and Kim and Michal Riley for lunch at El Chaparral. It was great to see everyone and the babies had a good time with each other. We were there to celebrate (belatedly) Amy's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY - and to just hang out. Michal is so beautiful, just like her momma, Kim and Alex just gets handsomer and handsomer every time I see him. He is ALL BOY and so sweet and BIG compared to Emerson.

Emerson had a great time with her new friends and even got a kiss from Michal.

We had a great time and hope we can do it again soon!

Big Girl Bed

This is big news around our house. For those of you who know us, you know that we have had some sleep challenges. For the first week of Emerson's life, she was in the hospital and slept in the crib. After she came home, she slept in her pack and play for about another week. After that, she slept on/with me or her father in the La-Z-Boy in the living room. Alot of this had to do with her reflux and we were able to keep her more upright this way, and hey, if you are tired enough, you'll sleep anywhere (I'm referring to me and Rico). This went on til she was about 3 months old when we discovered that she slept great in her swing, and it kept her elevated. So, we moved the swing to her room and for the next 3 months she slept in her swing and either her father or I slept in the bed in her room. (The NICU folks recommended that we sleep in the same room with her until she was 6 months old because of the risk of SIDS).

But now, we are all big girls and all sleep in our own beds in our own rooms. Emerson has done great with the transition and is sleeping all the way through the night in her crib. And I must say, I am enjoying being back in my bed. I feel like I might actually have handle (a small one, anyway) on this whole parenting thing! :)