I have received some recent complaints regarding the lack of new posts and pictures. Funny that the complainers are the same people who see Emma nearly every weekend!

I have uploaded 150 new pictures (wow, we I take a lot of pictures!) I guess I hadn’t realized how many I had amassed. There are pictures of Emma “helping” James put together shopping cart #2 that she got for her birthday. There are also pictures of Emma riding in said shopping cart. I am pretty sure that’s listed amongst the things NOT to do in the instructions, but who reads those?!?

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Here you can see Emma trapped under a bar stool. {wp-gallery-remote: gallery=0; rootalbum=50761; imagefilter=include:51053,51048;}

I was sitting at the counter reading the paper and she somehow got under the stool next to me. She pulled a tag off of the bottom – it was a tag that should only be removed by the owner. I know what’s in her bank account and it is not enough for a bar stool. So, we’ll be taking up a collection to bail her out of jail.

Emma brushing her teeth:{wp-gallery-remote: gallery=0; rootalbum=50761; imagefilter=include:51438;}

Yes, she is sitting on the couch while she brushes her teeth. It can be a long process and I was tired of standing with her at the sink! She loves doing this (I think she just likes the taste of the apple-banana fluoride-free goo we let her brush with, but whatever, it’s a good habit to get into I guess!) She reaches for her toothbrush every time she’s in the bathroom now.

There are a zillion pictures of her on her rocking chair. She’s figured out how to make it rock and loves it. Of course she loses interest pretty quick and I’ve not been able to get a good picture to give to the person who painted the chair for her. There are also a million pictures of her with a Jujube box – we’ve been trying to get a picture of her with the box for months since Papa Rich calls her Jujube. (There are probably 200 other failed attempts that didn’t make it up here, you’re welcome.)

The pictures we had taken at JCP last week are now in the gallery.  You can see them here.  These are NOT high resolution so they will probably look terrible if you try to print.  We did order some and I will pick those up on the 12th.

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I’ve added three new albums of pictures to the gallery over the past couple of days. There are some pictures from the past couple of weeks that I forgot to take off of the camera before today. You can see her eating and playing with her lunch on a couple of occasions, finally using a sippy cup (before throwing it across the room), looking out the front window waiting for James to come home and “helping” James put up a baby gate.

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We had her 1 year pictures taken twice this past week (yes, I know she’s spoiled!) The first time the photographer got some great ones of the three of us together and some funny ones of Emma smashing a cake (she made a huge mess!) but there weren’t any really good ones of Emma just by herself. So, later in the week we went somewhere else and had more taken. Those are in the gallery. They are high resolution and can be printed (let me know if you can’t print and I can do it for you). We didn’t order any from there because it seems like we just print what we want and then we’re left with an envelope full of pictures in the end. I’m still waiting on the pictures from earlier in the week to be emailed to me and then I’ll post those as well.

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Although her actual birthday is not for two more days, we had her birthday party today. It was a fun time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Emma held up pretty well, but fell sound asleep as soon as everyone left! She was a bit timid when it came time for cake, but she did a pretty good job making a mess out of 1/2 of the little cake grandma made for her to smash!

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There are new pictures up. Emma attended her first Rib Fest yesterday and had a good time. She seemed to like the BBQ pork. She was not a fan of baked beans. She kept reaching for beer, but we made her stick to formula! {wp-gallery-remote: gallery=0; rootalbum=48375; imagefilter=include:48497;}

Today we let her try finger painting for the first time. There was more paint on the two of us and the sheet we were sitting on than there was on the paper, but we got two masterpieces out of it!
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We were shopping at Sam’s yesterday and saw someone with a huge stuffed caterpillar in her cart. Of course I thought Emma needed one of those, so we searched and found the last one! As soon as I pulled it out she lit up and laughed and reached for it. Of course we had to buy it! We’re just waiting for Taylor to try to drag that thing around with her!{wp-gallery-remote: gallery=0; rootalbum=48375; imagefilter=include:48702,48387;}

Well, Emma is sick again. Daycare called last Wednesday and said she had a temperature of 101.9 but was otherwise acting fine. When I got there to pick her up, she was screaming and crying with green snot running out of her nose. The girls said that she was only happy if someone was holding her and that she didn’t want to eat much. None of those things really sounded like normal behavior to me so off to the pediatrician we went! She was put on antibiotics for a sinus infection. She continued to run a fever until Saturday, thank goodness for Infant Motrin! She’s finally doing a little bit better and actually drank a whole bottle last night and another this morning. We’ll see how she does at daycare tomorrow.

I’ve posted some new pictures. Some are over a month old – they were on a camera that I don’t use too often so I kind of forgot they were there.

We’re going to need Aunt Angie to come over and teach Emma to not dig in the tree (just like she taught Taylor way back when). We’re still not sure what Angie did/said to Taylor, but she doesn’t go near the tree. If only Emma would learn. At least she is learning to clean up after herself:{wp-gallery-remote: gallery=0; rootalbum=48070; imagefilter=include:48352,48342;}

We went to the zoo again today and fed the giraffes and rode the carousel. Emma was too busy checking out the mirrors and bright colors in the center so most of the pictures James got are of me pointing towards the camera (and they’re pretty blurry) – oh well. I’m sure she’ll go on it again sometime.
There are also some new pictures from earlier in the week – she had fun making lots of noise with the wooden spoons and plastic bowl!

I’m a little late in posting this. I put all of the pictures from the 4th on my computer but neglected to upload them to the site. We spent a few days in Stevensville over the 4th. Emma got to meet “Aunt” Barbara. Emma had fun swimming in the little pool and was kind enough to let Taylor use the pool as her outdoor water dish. She also had her first tastes of popsicles and ice cream – she loved them both! She was not pleased when we tried to get her to sit in some of the boats lining the streets of downtown St. Joe – it looks like Aunt Angie had fun, though! All of the pics are in the gallery.

Emma started swimming lessons this past weekend. She really seems to like the pool, especially if there are other kids around. There are lots of pictures of her in the pool – some are not so good since there is quite a delay in the camera!
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She finally figured out how to crawl this past weekend as well. She is getting into everything now. She has a particular fondness for cords and really anything she isn’t supposed to have. She can pull herself up and is doing it on everything that will stay still long enough (which means pretty much everything except Taylor).

She’s also started making a “mean” face recently. She does it pretty randomly and it’s so hilarious. I was able to get a picture of it – it was taken with my phone since I couldn’t find a real camera fast enough, so it is kind of dark and blurry (no flash!).
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There are also pictures up from the Flag Day/Father’s Day Celebration at Betsy and Matt’s. Emma tried watermelon for the first time and loved it. There’s also a picture of her helping Uncle Matt shake up his beer!

She is still stealing pacifiers at daycare, but it sounds like the other kids are starting to grab them back from her (good for them!) I guess Emma gets pretty upset when they do that. Hopefully she’s learning something from this!

We went to the Binder Park Zoo today with Grandma and Papa.  There are some pictures up in the gallery.  We fed some giraffes and saw lots of other animals.  Emma was in a good mood all day and fell asleep right as we were heading back to the car.

Emma turned 9 months old yesterday. She went to the doctor today for her check up – everything looks good. She was in a great mood and was laughing and making all sorts of noise in the waiting room. She shredded the paper in the exam room and laughed at herself in the mirror while we were waiting. She got a new book and kept trying to reach for the reflection in the mirror. It was so funny. She only needed two shots today and reacted to those the way she has always reacted to shots – a high pitched scream and a very upset sounding cry. It was not her usual, “mamamamama cry” at all. She recovered quickly and fell asleep in the car on her way home.

Here’s her stats:

Height 27 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Weight 19 lbs 2 ounces (50-75th percentile)

Head 17 1/2 inches (50-75th percentile)

There are some new pictures up. We took her swimming for the first time on Saturday – she loved the pool! We just went during open swim hours at the gym. The next session of swimming lessons for her age group starts in a couple of weeks, so we’ll sign her up for that. She really does love the water – there are also some pictures of her relaxing in the tub and sporting her mohawk.
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