9 Months Old and Crawling

It has finally happened, the moment we have all been waiting for, Emily is now mobile.  She has learned how to crawl, although it is her own style of crawling where she crawls a couple of steps then sits and then crawls a little more.  She gets to where she needs to go but I did find out that if you get down on your hands and knees with her and crawl she will go further without sitting, almost as if she wants to race you. 

Pulling herself up into a standing position is a task in progress right now.  Emily has done it a couple of times but she still needs assistance most of the time.  She loves being able to be upright and tries to grab hold of things off the coffee table.  When she wants some assistance to stand she puts out two hands and then pulls herself up. Sometimes she'll try to walk and she is getting better at standing unassisted.  Her standing entertainment table is a big must have right now as it keeps her practicing the pull up and balancing act.  She starts to dance when the music comes on by bouncing up and down a little, it is the funniest thing.  Emily also likes peek-a-boo and loves it when you start to clap, she thinks it's a game.  She is still loving Pat-a-Cake, it makes her smile everytime we sing the song.

Tantrums have shown up in full force, which mommy is not liking at all at the moment.  It seems as though every time I place her on her changing table, she has a fit that includes crying, wiggling and rolling which makes it almost impossible to change her without cooperation.  I have to find ways to distract her with toys and if that doesn't work then I stern with her but for some reason she thinks it's funny and laughs, which is not the reaction I am hoping for when it comes to trying to discipline.

My baby has a healthy appetite and smacks her mouth when she sees something she wants to eat or drink.  We have introduced juice to her diet, but not too much, we still stick with water at the dinner table.  Emily loves water and especially when drinking out of an adult cup that has ice.  She will put her little hands in the cup and swish the ice around.  Plastic lined bibs are a must have during dinner time.

Last week Emily caught her first cold and had a difficult time sleeping at night.  She haes the aspirator and will start to shake her head from side to side before you even come near her.  It is the most dificult task trying to keep her nose clean and clear.  Every time she sneezed mucus would come out of her nose but she hated when you tried to wipe it clean.  I am just thankful it only went on for a couple of days and thankful that I had a nasal decongestant that the doctor prescribed back when we thought Emily was getting allergies because I am sure that is what helped get her better faster.

Yesterday was Emily's first time in the water at the beach.  Daddy took her out while mommy took some pictures of them.  She loves the water and splashed around as much as she wanted.  We sat her at the water's edge but only for a couple of minutes since she kept trying to put sand and sea weed in her mouth.  Overall, it was a good time out at Rockport beach and I'm glad Emily has such a wonderful beach experience.  I hope to take her out more time this summer before baby #2 makes her arrival.  Next year, mommy will try and put Emily in swim lessons, I'm sure she'll love that.

At mommy's 10 year high school reunion

 

Not happy about the heat.  Mommy let's go!

 

Heading into the water for the first time

She loves the water!!

Yuck, trying to eat the seaweed

 

The beach wore her out

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day Weekend was fantastic and was filled with activity and family.  We attended the Dahman Family Reunion at Rockport Beach and had Emily meet her distant relatives for the first time.  It was easy to see where she gets her physical traits from, especially those blue eyes.  Emily has never been to the beach before, and although we weren't there to swim, we had to let her experience the feeling of sand.  Surprisingly, she liked it and kept touching it with her hands and stomping it with her feet, she also tried to eat it.  I'm sure Emily will love the beach!

We also got to see the Martinez Family this weekend and spent time with Grandpa Martinez and eat some BBQ with the all the family.  Emily liked playing with her cousins, Lauren and Leann and their ball.  She laughed and shrieked the whole time.  Lauren and Emily share a birthday and are 10 years apart in age.

Brian had a relaxing first Father's Day with breakfast in the morning that Emily helped to make and he was able to take a nap while mommy played with Emily all day.  Needless to say, mommy is tired and worn out from this weekend and baby in the belly with 10 weeks to go is not helping mommy's energy level.  Overall, I'm glad Brian had a great first Father's Day as well as our dad's with this being the first Father's Day as grandpa's.

Emily's first time in the sand

 

Emily likes the texture of sand

Emily trying to eat the sand

Sand feels good to step on

Emily and daddy playing with the sand

Oops, sand will make you lose balance

Emily loves daddy

I Love Being Back Home

Vacation Time

Brian and I took a little time off to relax and enjoy the summer, so Emily stayed with her Ama and Apa (my parents) for 5 days while we were floating the Frio river near Concan.  This was the first time we left Emily for more than a night and it was more difficult than we had originally thought.  As every night went by I missed her more and more.  Emily's aunties and grandparents were happy to send a copule of pictures via text message to ensure Brian and I that everything was okay and that Emily was having a good time.

When we arrived to pick her up she looked older and wiser and was moving a lot more than usual.  She is almost mobile when trying to crawl, a few more adjustments and she'll be crawling everywhere.  The Mmmm sound is now in her vocabulary although she isn't quite saying mama yet, but she does say mamamamama.  Emily is also close to saying apa and it sounds like she says ama. 

With Father's Day and my birthday right around the corner Brian bought us a video camera.  Last night we filmed Emily drinking out of her sippy cup by herself for the first time.  She was so proud of herself and shrieked everytime she was able to get water into her mouth.  I am thrilled we have a video camera now because Emily has so many of her milestones coming up and I am glad I will be able to document them for her to watch when she's older.  Her first birthday party, which will be here in a few months, will be a great one to film.

Playing in her new pack n' play

 

Bath time

 

Memorial Day

Fun in the sun on Memorial Day!  Emily Mae is playing on the slip n' slide at our friend's house.  She loves to splash the water with her hands.

8 Months Old

Emily Mae turned 8 months old on May 25th and she is developing at lightning speed, or so it seems.  Every week she shows a little more personality, hits a new milestone, or discovers something new about the world around her. 

As I wrote in my last blog, I discovered her first two teeth were starting to poke through her gums.  Well now her teeth (central incisors) have fully erupted from her gums and are noticable when she opens her mouth.  Emily has also discovered that she has something new in her mouth because I always catch her biting her upper lip, sometimes she does it long enough to leave a little red mark, it looks almost as if she has lipstick on.

Now that her teeth have come in, Emily discovered that she can bite items easier, so our food range has stretched a bit to include semi-soft food.  She absolutely loves bread and can eat yogurt bites, but hasn't hit the stage of solid food.  Sippy cups are a must for dinner time and only filled with water.  I haven't allowed her to taste juice yet, although I may introduce it to her in the next month or so, that is unless the grandparents beat me to it.  Emily loves drinking from a drinking glass, she thinks it's hilarious and likes to try to get the ice.  But watch out, she's miss grabby hands now and will take hold of anything near her.

Rolling over from front to back is now a completed milestone after months of dealing with the stuck arm.  Crawling is still in progress, she still hates to be on her belly but is getting much stronger in her arms to where she is actually pushing herself backwards instead of going forwards.  After getting nowhere she screams in frustration and is ready to call it quits.  She still loves to bounce but has now learned when you are going to let go of her and place her in her jumperoo, at which point she clings on for dear life and wails.  After a couple of seconds of feeling that jumping sensation she becomes okay with being let go, but forget the standing entertainer, she hates it.

Emily's voice is getting stronger and louder everyday.  She tests her pipes out when she wakes up in the morning, starting out with soft almost inaudible little screams that develop quite rapidly into high pitch shrieking.  Blah blah blah is her vocabulary right now although it sounds like da da da sometimes, I always ignore hearing that last one in hopes its ma ma ma first.  Emily may not have the words to express herself but you definitely know what she wants by her gestures.  When she doesn't want to be placed somewhere she starts to do what I call the booty dance, where her little booty starts to bounce up and down to try and get out of wherever it is your placing her.  I try to be stern and tell her "No" whenever she starts but you can't help but laugh, she looks too cute.  When someone she wants leaves the room she calls out for them in this loud warning cry, not so much with tears, but more like she's trying to boss you back into the room.

As of now Emily is sleeping through the night, although she has the occasion midnight wakeup, but for the most part is getting almost 12 hours of non-stop sleep.  She can't go from a laydown to sit down position without help yet, but when that happens her crib mattress will need to be placed a notch down.  If I sit her in her crib to play I have to watch her.  She can no longer be left alone.  The other day I noticed she learned to grab hold of the railing and pull herself up to look over the side.  Talk about having a heart attack.

Stranger anxiety is now in the picture but is not in full mode at this time.  Emily has no problem going with people she is around all the time, including her grandparents, aunts, uncle, godfather and babysitter, but anyone other than that gets an evil stare and then her bottom lip juts out to warn of a cry coming on.  She now puts her arms out if she wants you to carry her and clings to me if she doesn't want the other person to come near her.

In the next couple of months, Brian and I will be baby proofing our house in preparation for a crawling and walking infant who is already curious about the world around her.  With another baby coming in 3 months we need to make life a little easier.

Watching the Golden Girls

 

Loving her first bouncy ball

 

Checking out the tomatoes from daddy's garden

 

Squishing the tomatoes from daddy's garden

Discovering the texture of grass

Mother's Day Surprise

Sunday May 9th was my first celebration as a mother on Mother's Day.  It was a wonderful day full of laughs and family.  Daddy made breakfast and gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card (he never buys cards) along with some chocolate covered strawberries (he knows I've had a sweet tooth with this pregnancy).  But the best gift and surprise was the little pearly white peeking out of Emily's bottom gum.  We have been waiting for her first tooth to make it's appearance and now it's finally here.  It is really tiny and hasn't sprouted completely yet, but it's there.  I can't wait until I get pictures of her with her first little tooth.  She is such a happy baby and squeals with delight at the sound of other people's laughter and of course when Dora the Explorer comes on television.  Thank you to Auntie Alyssa for all the wonderful pictures!