Emily's First day at the Beach

We took Emily down the shore for the first time yesterday. Greg took the day off of work and it worked out perfectly. It was a cooler day, only mid 70's and cloudy so the beach wasn't too crowded. We drove during Emily's morning nap time, though she only slept the last 30 minutes or so. When we got there, Emily loved the sand. She played and played and played in it. If we put sand in the bucket, she took handfuls of it back out. If we put the bucket empty next to her, she filled it with handfuls of sand.

After awhile, Emily decided to see what sand tasted like. Even though I'm sure it wasn't enjoyable, she tried it over and over again even though we kept trying to stop her. That must have been part of the fun!

Emily tried the water with her feet for a couple of minutes and didn't mind it initially, but then became less of a fan of it. We stayed at the beach until close to noon and then took a walk down to a restaurant/shopping area on the water and got some lunch. Then back to the car and home.

It was a great outing for the day and Emily had such fun. It was just over an hour from our house so is very doable for other free days this summer. Emily was exhausted the rest of the day since she didn't nap super well, but seems to generally be back in the swing of things for today.

We finally got woodchips delivered to put around her swing set so Greg and I worked on those last night and earlier today. They are finally done and Emily's swing set project is complete! The woodchips are free from our town, but it took 3 different phone calls, starting over a month ago, to get them delivered.

Hats and Hair

Playing with the kitchen toys

Emily is really into her hats all of a sudden. She loves to wear 2 hats on her head and starts saying "dats, dats" when she sees them and wants them on. She also continues to love wearing our hats. Every now and then, we've had to distract her and only put one hat on her head. In the third picture, she's still in her pj's, but just with one hat on. Of course, when we got to the pool later that day, she flat out refused any hat on her head. Silly girl!

Emily also loves to comb her hair. She's been doing this for several months, but this is the first time I've taken a picture of her. She has a play comb in her play purse and she loves to comb her hair and make herself look pretty.

In the Chair and with Grandy

As I've posted before, Emily really likes her little rocking chair. She's started to accumulate enough stuffed animals that she likes to play with so right now we keep them sitting in the rocking chair in the living room. Emily loves to rock them back and forth and play with the animals. During the week, Emily and Grandy had fun taking the animals out and sitting Emily in the chair and then piling the animals back on her. She loved it and knew that she wanted each animal even when she could barely hold anymore.

We sat Emily in the big kitchen chair when I gave her a snack of Cheerios in her snack cup one day in the late morning. I knew we were going to have to push lunch a little late for her and wanted to make sure that she had a little tide me over snack and didn't want to do the high chair because there she'll try to get other food, not just a snack. Emily looked so cute in the big chair that I couldn't resist a couple of pictures.

And last, a picture of Emily and Grandy. Emily has been so well taken care of since she stopped going to daycare by both Grandma and Grandy, as well as Grandpa and Poppy when they were in town for a few days. It was obvious to Greg and me how much she enjoyed her days and time with her grandparents.

New Shoes

On Thursday Emily got her first pair of shoes! We decided to get her a pair of sandals since it is summertime and she looks oh so cute! We went to a store that had been well recommended, but they were out of tiny size 4 sandals and weren't expecting to get more in. While we were in that store, though, Emily spotted another child with a balloon and she sat in her stroller pointing towards the balloon and kept saying "boon, boon." I told her that we would get a balloon after we got her shoes. She was so excited about the balloons that even though we didn't get any shoes from there, I had to ask for a balloon for her. She loved it and held on to part of the string the rest of the day that we were out. There was another children's shoe store a few stores down the street so they fortunately had a good pair of shoes in stock for Emily. She looks adorable in her little white sandals and is so proud of them. Even in the store when I had a pair of shoes in my hand she wanted them and put them towards her feet, she knew that they went there!

Emily has gotten used to the shoes very quickly and loves to put them on. Now that Emily has had the shoes for a few days, she has mastered the velcro on them and gets so excited to put them on her feet when it is time. Greg had better watch out, he might have a little girl who likes new shoes!

Emily's 15 Month Check Up

Emily had her 15 month check up a week ago. It was a little late since her pediatrician had been on maternity leave. Emily is continuing to do great! She is 21 pounds, 4 ounces and 30 inches long. She is 25-50% for her weight and 50% for her height. Emily is talking a lot and the pediatrician commented that she was saying more than she needed to be saying for her 18 month check up. This weekend (a week after the appointment) we started to make a list of the words that Emily is saying and I think it is about 20 words. She understands so much more and is probably saying a few more things that we haven't recognized yet.

Emily's eczema is nearly all gone and cleared up. I don't know what has helped us get rid of it, but I think it's been a combination of things. She is older, it is summer time and the sun is good for it, the air isn't as dry, she's out of daycare, has been healthier, and is teething less so she is drooling less.

Emily is getting the hang of walking and is certainly walking around a bit more, but crawling or using her knees to walk are her primary modes of getting somewhere. The doctor didn't seem worried about it since Emily continues to make great progress, just a couple of months behind other babies in the gross motor department.

Emily is getting better about feeding herself with a spoon, but we don't give her one all that often since it can get messy and she needs help. She has also figured out how to color with crayons. We took her out to dinner last night and she tried to color and not eat them, which was a first.

Happy Father's Day

This year Poppy was in town for Father's Day. Emily helped Daddy and Poppy open their gifts and had a lot of fun looking and playing with the wrapping paper.

The adorable dress that Emily is wearing is the ladybug dress that Grandy made for her. Emily looks super cute in the dress and loves to look down and point out the ladybugs on it.

Greg and I got a rare treat and were able to go out to a movie for a few hours on Father's Day since Grandy and Poppy were in town to watch Emily. It was a super nice treat for all of us!

Hiking

We went for a hike when Poppy was here visiting during Grandy's 2 week visit. The hike was a lot of fun, but was in a swampy area so there were a lot of mosquitos. We kept moving and stayed relatively uneaten. Emily seems to enjoy her carrier. We planned on stopping and giving her a picnic lunch, but there were so many mosquitos that we kept moving. By the end, Emily was hungry and kept reaching for cheerios from me to tide her over till lunch. We're hoping to get out and continue exploring more of the trails around us.

Fun at Home

Emily has lots of toys to play with at home. In the first picture, she is sitting on the floor with Grandma feeding her baby a bottle. Emily has become a very good little mommy to her little baby. It's so cute to watch. She knows when she takes the baby out of her toy box to look for the bottle, too.

Grandma and Grandy traded places over the weekend. Grandma headed back to Texas and Grandy flew in on Saturday. Emily has been in great hands for the last 2 weeks and did great with Grandy today. She is back on a good nap schedule at home and is sleeping great. The difference in her moods in the evenings is incredible and she is still in bed most nights by 7:30 or 8.

We just got Emily a water table for outside. We put it together when I got home from school today and she loved it. She was outside playing with it for at least 45 minutes. By the time we brought her inside, we had gradually taken off all of her clothes, she was soaking wet!

Aside from Emily's first steps (see video below), she is doing so great and growing so much! She understands nearly everything that we say to her and can pick out different things when shown a page in a book. She loves dogs and ducks and seems to have an interest in cats, too. Emily really likes her farm animals and moos when we say cow. Emily can point out her nose, as well as everyone else's nose. She also knows her belly, head, hair, and feet. She can clap when you say yay. Last week she wanted some cheese with her dinner so she started reaching towards the refrigerator and saying eessse, eeessse. She certainly is developing what she wants and doesn't want to eat and do.

We go for Emily's 15 month check up at the end of this week. The visit is a few weeks late since her pediatrician was on maternity leave. I'm eager to see how much Emily has grown, she is a bottomless pit when it comes to eating and really looks like a toddler now.

First Steps

Here is a long video of Emily getting ready to and taking her first steps. She's 15.5 months old and took her first steps on Saturday evening, June 9. As we have had to learn with Emily in daycare, there are times that someone else might see her "firsts" before we do. Everyone has always been good about not letting us know until we have seen it for ourselves. And in our mind, none of the firsts count until Mommy and Daddy have witnessed it. The same is true with Emily's first steps. It would appear, that Grandma managed to see them while she was here visiting and watching Emily while we were at work during the week. She followed her instructions and did not tell us about it until we had witnessed it ourselves. Regardless, it goes into Emily's baby book (like all of the other firsts) when Greg and I saw it.