Emerson's First Trip to the Ocean

Emerson saw the ocean for the first time when we spent a week in Orange Beach, along with her Grammy and Grandpa. We were lucky to have a whole week of warm days and sunny skies. It was a quiet time of year at the condo where we stayed, so we basically had a pool to ourselves for the week. Emmy liked floating around in her crab but loved being out and "swimming" even more. We also sat in the ocean and let the waves rush over our legs which we all enjoyed. We spent a windy day exploring Mobile, went to Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels and enjoyed quite a few delicious dinners!

Emerson learned a couple of new tricks during the week. She can now wave bye bye and patty cake. We're still working on "So Big".

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great time in Louisiana over Labor Day weekend despite Gustav cutting our trip short. Emerson met her cousin Nya and Great Aunt Marilyn both for the first time. She can’t wait for Nya to get a little bigger so they can play!

GG decorated the house for the LSU Tigers, Illini and UK season openers, so Emmy cheered for all of her favorite teams! Emerson also had a lot of fun following her big cousin Kaleb around, driving around the house, and swimming with Kaleb and Grandpa.

Unfortunately, the hurricane forced us to evacuate early and did a lot of damage to the area, but we are fortunate that everyone is safe after the storm.

Play Time

We had a relaxing weekend with a lot of playtime. Some of Emmy’s favorite toys are the dump truck, blocks, and Ducky. And there’s nothing better than reading with Daddy before bedtime on a Sunday night!

So big!

Our baby is into her big girl car seat and stroller. She loves the freedom of her new stroller and the holder for her sippy cup!

Emerson is also standing in her crib on her own. Fortunately, she's still a good sleeper and doesn't spend a lot of awake time in there. But, it looks like we need to lower it as far as it goes already. Wasn't she in the bassinet just yesterday?

Busy Summer

Emerson has had a pretty busy couple of weeks. Between learning new things and playdates, she's barely had time to show off her crawling skills for the camera (or her mom hasn't had time to download them)!

Emmy has turned seven months, learned to drink from a sippy, feed herself puffs, and had her first trip to the farm (including the world's largest picnic in Fancy Farm!).

Emerson also got to play with Amalie and meet her baby brother, Walker, who is such a cutie!

She had a playdate with her cousin, Ben, too! It is so much fun to see them interact with each other now. I think they are earning their nicknames of Pebbles and Bam Bam.

Swimming with Kate

Amy and Kate invited us for a playdate at the pool by their house. Emerson loved riding with mommy on the lazy river. She and Kate also went down the slides and played in the sprinklers. As you can see by the kisses from Kate, they are already becoming best friends. Amy and I were forced into friendship by our moms nearly 30 years ago, so I can only hope that Emerson and Kate are as lucky!

Emerson also had her six month checkup. She is still 95th percentile for height and 85th for weight. I'm sure no one is surprised that she isn't falling into the petite category. The doctor gave her a great report and said that we should have "no complaints about this one".

Another milestone this week was when she started to say "mama". Every once in awhile, I think she connects it with me, but otherwise it's just a fun word that gets a lot of reaction.

Smile!

Emerson had her six month pictures taken this weekend. She did great and was always ready to flash a big smile. She fell asleep in daddy's arms as soon as she was finished so apparently modeling was rather exhausting.

On Saturday night, Emerson was the life of the party at an anniversary celebration we attended. They had a local German band playing and Emmy danced the night away. She was passed around quite a bit because she was wearing everyone out bouncing to the music. She definitely gets her love of dancing from her dad, but at least she likes German music!

Happy 4th of July

We spent the holiday weekend at Emerson's grandparents' boat in Louisiana. Our little captain loved seeing everyone and going boating for the first time. The weather was sunny and it was great for all of us to relax and spend time together.

Although she has been scooting for quite some time now, Emmy crawled for the first time on Saturday night. It was only equivalent to one step, but that's a start!

Happy Half-Birthday!

Emerson is already six months old! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. She seems to try something new constantly. This week, she is getting on her hands and knees and rocking. It's not going to be long before she's all over the house. I think it's time to start the babyproofing!

This past weekend, we had a great time with some friends visiting from Lexington. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful for our day at the zoo. Then, on Sunday, we had a few friends and family over to celebrate an early 4th of July!

And, of course, we took the penguin pictures to see how much Emerson has grown. It is now very difficult to get her to stay still for a picture. But, the smiles still come easily!