7 1/2 months

My friend just had a baby girl (5 lbs 12 oz) last week and after visiting her at the hospital Emma just hasn't seemed the same to me. She's so big! I can't believe how much she has grown and I really can't believe she's almost 8 months old. I love watching her grow and learn and explore everything around her. I love this *immobile* but fun stage of life she's in.

1. Emma puts everything in her mouth. Her favorite chew toys are a red teether toy my mom gave me, Will's blocks (which he doesn't mind sharing), Will's cars (which he does mind sharing), and big adult fingers. If she's got something to chew on she's usually pretty happy.

2. After a series of trips, teething (but no teeth yet), more trips, and visitors in the last couple of months she finally has gone back to a schedule where she sleeps all night. Emma goes to bed at 7pm, wakes up at 5 or 6am for a feeding, and then sleeps until Will wakes up around 7:30am. It's a much better schedule than her waking up 2 or 3 times a night.

3. When Emma gets tired she squeals (very loudly) until I pick her up. Then she sucks her thumb and snuggles against my shoulder. Sometimes she'll fall asleep on me (only if we're out at a friend's house or at church during naptime) but usually that's my cue to take her upstairs and put her to bed. I love having a snuggly girl. Will was much too busy to snuggle with me as a baby but Emma is much more mellow.

4. Emma's favorite pureed foods are sweet potatoes and corn, applesauce, and pears.

5. She doesn't crawl yet but she can (eventually) get around. She squirms, stretches, and rolls back and forth until she can reach the toy she wants. A couple days ago she went up on her knees but was pushing her head against the ground and couldn't go forward so she went back to her rolling.

6. Emma is very vocal. When she's excited she kicks her legs and says, "Oo! Ooo! Oo!" or "Mhm! Mhm! Mhmm!" over and over. When she's gets impatient, or hungry, or just starts to get tired she squeals (really loudly and high pitched). And though she saves her actual crying for when she gets hurt (like when Will bit her yesterday...she did put her hand in his mouth though) or when she's really tired, when she cries she REALLY cries. It's amazing how such a petite little thing can produce so much sound.

7. Last week as we were stuck in traffic headed to Dodger Stadium I noticed something new that Emma does when she's upset. She was so tired and so upset in the car that she started pulling out little fistfuls of hair! I tried to stop her but she kept doing it until she finally found her thumb and started sucking on it. Since then, I keep finding her hair all over her tear streaked face or in her little fists every time she gets upset. But I don't know where she's pulling all that hair from because she still has a lot!

8. According to Emma, Will is the funniest person in the world. Taylor and I can usually get a little half laugh and a smile from her but Will gets all the belly laughs. Sometimes we don't even know what she thinks is so funny but she just laughs and laughs and Will keeps doing whatever it is.

9. Emma is a bit of a mommy's girl. She will go to almost anyone when she's happy but when she's sad or tired she wants Mom. She always knows where I am and I can usually soothe her when nobody else can. And since soothing her usually results in a snuggly thumbsucker on my shoulder so I don't really mind all that much. :)

10. Emma loves to be upside down. When you hold her sometimes she likes to put her head back as far as she can so when she starts doing that a lot we just hold her by her feet instead. She is totally unfazed by it and usually continues to look around and chomp on her toy.

(These pictures are actually from the end of April but I'm posting them anyways.)