43 Weeks Young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emily's been sick the past week, so I'm once again verrrrrry late with her weekly update!  Pretend today is 3/21 instead of 3/28 {even though I'd still be 2 days late!}

Before Little Missy came down with another cold, she was doing pretty well with her night sleep!  Falling asleep pretty consistency around 8pm, with about 5 minutes or so of cuddle rocking.  And on the night of her 42 week birthday, she slept almost 7 hours straight!  Woohoo!!!  Of course, the old adage "This too shall pass" applies just as easily to the positive things in babyhood as to the difficult things.  Such is life.  ;)

This week I attempted to get Emily to try sliced apples for the first time, but she wasn't interested when I presented them to her in her high chair.  She took one lick and the tiniest bite ever, and was done.  Funny enough, when Emily saw Mommy eating the apple off the core later on she wanted to take a bite too!  So, I held it up to her mouth and she smiled biiiiig, while taking the smallest baby bite you could possible imagine.  I think she was more amused by the fact that she was eating it like Mommy was, than the actual taste of the apple.  I don’t even know that she bit off any chunks!  But she definitely was proud of herself!

Other new foods this week included: Daddy's homemade waffles, mashed potatoes, grapes in her mesh feeder, and “real” peas, corn & carrot bits!  Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan of most of those foods, but at least she tried them!  She liked the peas and ate several of them, as well as one or two corn kernels, but did not like the carrots.  She ended up gagging on them and then that was the end of that meal!

Emily experienced her second trip to the grocery store.  She was sooooo good the entire time! She sat in the cart with her cart cover, holding on to a bag of pita chips that Shep had given her to distract her.  She quietly and curiously looked at people and items as we strolled up and down the aisles.  As we got to the checkout line, I complimented her saying she was such a good girl.  Of course I must have jinxed it, because a minute later she was wrinkling up the tabloids and grabbing all the tic tacs next to the register like a maniac.  She also tried to grab the pen stylus attached to the credit machine, and stood up in the cart, despite being strapped in!  What a silly goose.  Now I know not to compliment her behavior on future outings until we're actually finished with the outing.  ;)

And in bigger news, Emily got another new tooth on March 15!!!  When we woke up, I checked her mouth and the top left lateral incisor was sticking through!  Emily didn’t even wake up more than usual the prior night, so I was pretty surprised to feel that sharp new addition to her adorable little mouth when I checked -- what a champ!!

Emily celebrated her first St. Patty's Day this week and also met another new baby friend and played with some old friends when we hosted a Baby Sign Language group!

It was a happy 43 week birthday for sure!

 

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from our wee lucky charm!!!

As Shep will attest, I've never been a lucky person.  I'd love to blame it on the 2 {yes, two -- don't ask...} mirrors I broke while moving several years back, but alas I cannot -- my lack of luck existed long before those mishaps.  ;)  Shep, on the other hand, is very lucky.  True story -- back when we were still dating, we were on vacation at a casino.  Each time I walked away, even just for a few minutes, he won -- whether it was at poker, a slot machine or the roulette table.  It was pretty funny, though the repeated occurrences sort of proved my hunch that I had an extraordinary propensity for not-so-great luck.  Ah well, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all!  ;)  But I digress...

Games of chance aside, I do feel incredibly lucky -- lucky to be a mom.  And extra super duper lucky to be the mom of the most adorable little leprechaun I've ever laid eyes on.  Who needs a roulette table.... Emily is my rainbow and my pot of gold!!!

Not only is she my lucky charm, but she's magically delicious too!  ;)  Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone!!!

42 Weeks Young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at that big toothy grin!

To celebrate her 42 week birthday, Emily slept for almost 7 hours straight!!!!!!!  Almost.  She did wake up for about 3 minutes an hour after being put down, which took the total time of the sleep stretch down to 6 hours and 14 minutes, but that's still really good for her!  This mama was proud.  :)

AND, in other big milestone news, guess who got her second top tooth?!?!  Yep!  Emily's right central incisor finally started to cut through on March 9.  I felt like it had been coming forever, and now it's finally here!  Unfortunately that hasn't given her much reprieve in the discomfort department as far as I can see, because she's had a couple clingy / cranky days.  But luckily it's nothing a little extra TLC {and teething remedies} can't help cure!  My poor baby.  In fact, Emily's so crafty that she's invented her own teething remedy.  It's called "licking or pressing her mouth against anything that's cold".  See Exhibit A:

 

She is also extra fascinated this week with looking out the window.  Shep guessed maybe it's because she's tired of being inside so much due to the cold weather, but she does it even if we've just been outside for a long walk, so I'm not sure that cabin fever is the reason.  She pulls the curtain aside and stands there staring and sometimes banging on the window.  Never mind a penny for a thought -- I'd trade all the money in my bank account to be able to know what this smart, spunky little lady is thinking in that beautiful head of hers...

Emily loooooooves to look at books.  She can sit for 5 minutes at a time, entertaining herself, flipping through her books -- looking intently at the photos and text.  We officially have a little book worm on our hands!

This weekend Emily lost an hour of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings Time {like she needs any encouragement in that department...}.  She also visited Connecticut for the first time, and met several more family friends!

Just like our last road trip, she did great in the car on the way there -- sleeping a total of nearly 1.5 hours in the car -- but didn't fare so well the next day while coming home.  Ah, well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad!!

Emily tried crinkle-cut steamed carrots for the first time and was not a fan.  She eats pureed carrots pretty regularly and likes them, so I think it was the texture.  This girl has eyes for food, and chews very well, but doesn't really love the actuality of swallowing the solid foods.  But she is trying new things and making progress, so I'm proud!

In other news, last Monday was *hopefully* Emily's last day on Prevacid!  We tried weaning her off it back in September, but we ended up having to put her back on it because the reflux got worse a few weeks later.  But, since she's much older now and hasn't had that many reflux symptoms lately, we're hoping this is really the end of her need for meds.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Hopefully the snow storm that started out the week will be her LAST of this year!  I can't wait for spring to arrive, though it's funny to think that this will be Em's SECOND spring!  Yikes!!

41 Weeks Young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{I'm sorry I'm so very late with this post -- this is becoming a bad trend, please forgive me!}

This kid.  She is amazingly lovable.  Her smile lights up the entire world.  She's funny, and she knows it!  She's incredibly smart and very driven.  It's pretty hard to believe she's only 9.5 months old given all she's already accomplished, and all the joy she's contributed to the world!

Here's a quick recap of Emily's 41st week:

Daddy joined us for our baby music class!

Emily said "mama" for the first time!!!  In truth, it was simply a repetitive sound she made -- versus actually referring to me by name -- but it was music to my ears nonetheless!

Emily tried "real" (i.e. non-pureed) blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, steamed broccoli, carrots and pancakes for the first time this week!  She took at least one bite of everything, but not much more than that.  As I told Emily though, the important thing is that she tried it!  :)

On the other hand, she finds her toys VERY tasty!

Miss Big Girl also took a couple more steps this week, and went strolling around the apartment holding Daddy's hands.  :)

In tribute to Dr. Seuss' birthday, there was a Dr. Seuss celebration week at daycare!  The kiddies wore special attire (silly sock Tuesday, wear green Wednesday, and crazy hat Thursday), and they read Dr. Seuss books.  Emily LOOOOOOOOOVES looking at books, so I'm sure she enjoyed the week!

The celebration must have really tuckered her out, because when I arrived to pick Emily up on Wednesday afternoon, I found this:

We finally have proof that this little one does in fact sleep at daycare!!!  Hooray!  The only downside is that I had to -- gulp -- wake a sleeping baby to bring her home!  Now THAT is something I never thought I'd do!