Emily 51 Weeks

1 more week to go!! My baby is getting so so big!!

To solve the changing table issue...I give her something to hold while I change her diaper and clothes. It has worked....for this week at least.

Emily had a fever on Sunday. I knew she felt warm during church and when we got home, it was 101.4. Poor little girl. She woke up at 4 am Monday and Tuesday. I brought her downstairs for a few hours to play. I was dead tired of course, but it was kind of fun to spend that one on one time with her. Then I put her back to bed at 6 am to start her first nap of the day. She's been teething a lot lately...she has 3 teeth about to pop through.s *Update....she has 2 teeth about to pop through. 1 more tooth made its appearance today. So she has a bottom right tooth and a top right tooth.

Yesterday, I was in the kitchen working on dishes and dinner. Elliott kept calling to me, "Mommy!! Look at baby...hurry...come!" Elliott is such a good older brother and watches out for his little sister. So I finished washing my hands...and I knew I really did need to hurry or Emily could be getting hurt. I ran over to her....she is halfway up the stairs!!! She's only gotten up 1 1/2 stairs in the past...she's never gone up that many and so fast!! I'm not going to put up a gate. I want her to learn how to maneuver stairs.

Her preferred mode of transportation is now the normal crawl with knees. But if for some reason her knee slips...she then continues in army crawl mode. But it's funny when she's on hard floor...she moves with her hands and feet only with her entire body up in the air...I have no idea why she does this. Silly girl.

I'm still searching for some birthday presents for the girl. I know in the past we spent so much money on toys that Elliott only played with once....So I'm really trying to find toys she would really enjoy playing with. I picked up a bead maze for $5 on craigslist.

This past week if Emily sees me in the car she starts crying. I try to peek at her though her mirror to say hi...and her face just crumples when she sees me. Or if I peek over the top of her seat...she cries too. I thought the first time she did it that she was just tired. But nope....she does it all the time now. I have no idea why!!

She wasn't in the best mood this morning. Pretty cranky...and all she wanted was the remote.

Elliott is such a good brother to Emily. He loves popping in the picture and put his arm around her.

She's not happy with me...obviously.

Content. Has the remote.

I somehow got slipped into this pic. She was moody...and I could only get a pic this way. I can't stop laughing at that grumpy face!!

Yep...my sweet Emily screaming at me. ha ha!

Best corner of the couch pose I could get.

Splash Pad with Mom's Club

We were the only ones that showed up for today's Mom's Club activity. That's okay...we had the park to ourselves and I was able to take out my nice camera and snap some fun pictures. It was fun to have a nice camera to get some fun shots of Elliott playing.

This pic makes me laugh...it looks like Elliott is trying to kill and attack the water...ha ha!

Little Miss Em was exploring the ground very slowly while I was snapping pictures.

Looks like he's playing hide and seek with the water....

They are actually both looking at the camera.

Staged July 4th Pics

I completely forgot to get a pic of the kids in their July 4th patriotic gear....so I dressed them up today and took their picture. 

I'm yelling at them both to look at me...they are ignoring me...as usual.

Finally!

I told Elliott to not let Emily get away. Obviously, she is not wanting to stay put for this pic. Look at that face she's making.

Love Elliott's fake smile....thanks Elliott. At least he was a champ at keeping Emily in line.

Brazos Bend July 6th

We ventured out to Brazos Bend again this morning. We need to put our annual pass to good use. I didn't really feel like going and almost told Patrick so...but I went along instead. We had a slow start and got there later than usual. We got there a little after 9 am. We like to get there around opening time...7:30ish. I didn't think we would see that many...maybe around 10. I was way wrong. Our count today was 60. Now that I can zoom in on my pictures, I'm there were more than 60.The most we have ever seen in one trip! Our count was at 28 when a photographer told us that up ahead across from Elm Lake there were 30 on the bank. I kind of thought he was exaggerating...and he just meant a lot...or maybe there were several group of babies. But no....there were a ton up there. It was a lot of fun.

This is our first guy...with his mouth wide open. I couldn't get the camera to focus and I wanted to zoom in...Patrick had put it on manual...and by the time he fixed it, he close his mouth. So these two are of the same alligator.

We physically saw 21 in this section of water. I know there must have been a ton more....but this is what I physically counted. There are 2 in this first group here.

 I think there are 7 here. 

I counted 8 in this group.

 This guy was part of the same area...he was closer to the bank where we were by himself.

 Another shot of the 2 large groups next to each other.

We saw a group of 5 babies. Here are 3 of them.

On our way back to the car we saw 2 groups of ducks and ducklings. Here's the 1st one. There was another adult duck, but I cropped it out so I can zoom in on the ducklings.

These next 2 pics are of the 2nd group. These are teeny tiny ducklings...they are really hard to see. We were able to see them because there were jumping around.

A good trip...so many gators out. Extremely hot out. We were there for almost 2 hours.

Prayers!!

Patrick and I are needing your prayers.

Apparently, Elliott has started praying for a baby brother at night.

And since he's a child...and we all know what kind of faith these children have. We are needing a gazillion prayers on Patrick and mine's behalf to counteract Elliott's!! ha ha!!

Emily 50 Weeks!

Emily is 50 weeks old! I really feel so silly to be counting her in weeks!

Ugh...this girl is mobile! And BUSY!! Before I even lay her on the changing table she is already rolled over. It is such a struggle to dress her. She hates getting her clothes changed. I can usually hurry through a diaper change...but the dressing and undressing...whew!

She is doing good with swimming lessons. She can now hang onto the sides. Maybe one day this will be her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV6te0Vu6Y4

She is still working on her 2nd tooth to break through.

She can crawl normal...but she prefers the army crawl...and she's much faster at it. Besides, it's so much easier to army crawl in a dress.

She is definitely attached to me these days. She'll stare at others and then when they look at her...she just wants to melt into me. But if someone does take her from me, she cuddles right up to them.

Emily loves swimming in the pool...still hates baths...but loves swimming. She prefers me to hold her in the pool rather than floating along in her floatee. She still likes her floatee...but just prefers me to hold her. We spent yesterday at the Voltzes. I love them! After I got Emily out of the pool...I sat her on the towel. She crawled over to the pool's edge. I was there wondering if she was going to go head first in the water. But when she got to the edge, she flattened her body to the ground and dangled her hands in the water to splash. It was way cute.

Apparently, she's striking a pose....

July 4th 2013

We had such a good July 4th this year! Probably one of our favorites!!!

We were invited over to the Voltzes...love them!! They treat my kids as their own grandkids...seriously love them! We hung out and ate yummy food and swam. Elliott and Patrick were swimming for 3 hours! Emily and I were only in there for 1 hour.

We then headed home and changed and went to another friend's house from the ward. The kids played in little swimming pools and on a swing set and trampoline. They loved it...until they rain came pouring down!! So we got all the kids dried off and we all hung out in the house. Luckily, the rain cleared up for us to do some fireworks. There were about 7-8 kids running around...and they made me so nervous. Elliott was such a good kid and did as he was told...I was very proud of him. He loved doing the sparklers and roman candles.

I made this fruit brownie pizza for both friend's places.

I made these for the kids for the 2nd house.

Here are the kids with all their sparklers.

And of course here's my favorite one!