45 Weeks Young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone's cold just does not want to go away!  Emily got lots of quality time with her nebulizer this week.... I hope this thing scrams soon, especially since spring has finally arrived!

Since we've had lots of empty tissue boxes hanging around, I decided to make use of one of them!  I stuck a bunch of Emily's little blocks and smaller toys inside one, and she got a real big kick out of it!

Emily had her first dentist visit, and came home with a goody bag!

According to the dentist, infants should start brushing their teeth twice a day as soon as they get their first tooth.  Contrary to prior thoughts on the subject, toothpaste can in fact be used with infants even before they can spit it out, but you should only use a tiny bit equivalent to the size of a grain of rice.  I think we're going to stick to water for now, since Emily still isn't even a year old yet and a grain of rice seems a bit difficult to squeeze out from a tube!  She thinks brushing her teeth is hysterical.  She also thinks it's soooooo funny when we are brushing our teeth!  Who knew dental hygiene was so comical?!

To celebrate her first dentist visit, we went out for brunch!

Emily might have purposely waved for the first time!  She frequently does the waving motion, but it's usually at random times throughout the day, and not addressed at anybody in particular.  She was holding her hand up again like she was saying “hey”, but then flexed and bent her knuckles like a wave motion.  Sooooo fun!

Emily is now pretty much a standing machine, and she takes numerous steps every day.  It's only a matter of time before she's actually stepping-to-get-from-here-to-there, also known as walking!!!

 

She is fascinated this week with sticking her tongue out between her lips, like so:

And has the cutest new little face, where she crinkles her nose a bit and breathes fast through it while smirking.  Such a cutie patootie!

Her favorite pastimes this week included "reading" and "gardening"!

 

And the most exciting thing happened on Thursday, Emily's 45 week birthday..... Emily's first flight!! We flew down to Virginia to visit my grandmother and other relatives for Easter.  Despite a 2+ hour delay, and severe lack of naps, Emily was a champ!  She was so excited on the plane, and didn’t cry at all (except when Shep accidentally poked her in the eye, but that was over quickly)!  She did soooooo much better than I expected -- brave little girl!

We were even able to get a smile out of her for a family selfie when we landed!

In other "firsts", Emily met a dog up close for the first time, once we arrived at our destination!  She was a bit scared, but also intrigued.  Before the weekend was over, Emily was chasing Jessie around.  That's my girl!  ;)

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!

 

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!!

40 Weeks Young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 40th, Em!!!  This week has been a busy one for you!

On Friday, you attended a baby music class for the first time!  It was entertaining to watch you listen to the music and look at all the other babies.  There is one song where the music instructor incorporates all of the babies' names into a song, and each of the babies faces lit up when they heard their names being sung.  You looked a little confused as to how this stranger knew your name.  You were crawling all over the place, playing with all the different musical instruments and tried to take the teacher’s bag and papers!  You did have fun singing and dancing though.  :)

On Saturday you took what might have been your first standing step!!  You were on your play mat and Daddy was sitting on the couch.  He said you might have took a step to get closer to him, but I only saw you out of the corner of my eye so I can’t say for sure. ;)

On Sunday you turned 9 months old!  To celebrate the momentous occasion, you tried stage 3 purees for the first time -- chicken with stars!  It didn't seem like you loved the little chunks, but you tolerated them and ate it up!

On Monday, you finally cut your first top tooth!  We've been waiting for that bugger to come out for a while.  You also possibly took 3 steps towards me -- or maybe just fell/fumbled, I couldn't tell -- while I was sitting on the floor in the living playing with you!!  You took a 1 hour & 2 minute nap in your crib on Monday morning!!!  {Mommy & Daddy were both shocked!}  Also on Monday, you tried pasta (plain rotini) for the first time!  You put it into your mouth and chewed it, but didn't really seem too impressed. Monday marked 39 weeks & 4 days since you're birth, so you've officially been out in the world longer than you were cooking in Mommy's tummy!

You tried pureed beef for the first time on Wednesday, and also tried a stage 3 chicken casserole puree on Tuesday!  You didn't love the beef, but I was able to water it down with some winter squash for you.  The chicken casserole was a no-go....you don't want the thicker/textured purees yet, and that's okay -- at least you tried it!  :)  

You've been making a lot of "ma" sounds this week.

You played with your stuffed monkey instead of crying when you woke up on Thursday morning!

All in all it was a fun-filled week!!!

First Tooth!

If all Emily wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth, then consider her wish list half-granted!  That's right, ladies and gents, Baby Em got her first bottom central incisor!

And if things weren't going into her mouth often enough BEFORE, well they definitely are now!!!  Milestone cards, her fingers, my fingers, washcloths, her bib, her toys, her clothes, my shoulder, my chin..... it's all fair game!!!

As you know, I've been saying for a long time now -- approximately 3 months to be more specific -- that Emily was teething.  Well, last Thursday/Friday I finally started to feel her little tooth cut through her gum.  Over the weekend it cut through a bit more and was a bit more sharp, and on Monday it was sharp enough that when she bit my finger it left a little dent!  But it wasn't until yesterday/today that you could easily see the tooth.  It's tiny, but visible!  Poor babe had a heck of a time sleeping late last week and over the weekend, but I'm hoping now that it's fully broken through it will be a bit less painful for her.

I tried to get a photo of her little chomper, but it turns out that's like getting a photo of a leprechaun riding on a unicorn running under a double rainbow over a pot of gold.

This is the best I could do.  :)

And if you look realllllllly hard at the center of her bottom gums, you can sort of see it in this photo...

Well, there you have it!  All the anticipation and now we've experienced sitting up, crawling & a first tooth all in one week!  The trifecta is complete.  You can now return to your regularly-scheduled programming.  ;)  I'm going to hit the sack so I can snuggle with my baby girl tonight when her crawling practice and pearly white wakes her up!

From what I've read, teeth usually come in pairs, so perhaps Baby Girl might have 2 front teeth by Christmas after all.  Stay tuned!