squeaky shoes

Emma Jane is walking like crazy! I put her squeaky shoes on her today and she went to town a'squeakin'! It was so funny! When not wearing her shoes, she likes to hold one in each hand for balance. Paul and I took her to the Farmers' Market this afternoon and each of us took one of Emma Jane's hands as she happily walked between us like such a big girl! It's such an exciting time, but it makes me a little sad, too, as we say goodbye to baby girl and get ready for toddler time!

zany zoo puppets

I bought a zoo puppet kit and made Emma Jane 4 bag puppets-a bear, tiger, elephant, and monkey. Don't be too impressed, it took me less than an hour to make them all! Emma Jane loves the puppets on the Baby Einstein dvds so I thought she might get a kick out of these. I was right! The giggles and belly laughs we got out of her were priceless! The monkey puppet now stays on the dining room table as backup when we need her to EAT something she doesn't like. When you get this girl giggling, she can be coaxed into doing anything!

girl with a curl

Most of you know that Emma Jane has curls on the back of her head. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of hair on top just yet! Strangely enough, she woke up yesterday morning with a perfect swirly curl smack dab on the top of her pretty little head! It was HILARIOUS, so of course I had to take some pictures. Will our precious girl have a head full of curls? Only time will tell!

a day in the pool

We met our friends at the pool again today. Emma Jane had a MUCH better experience than she did last weekend when the water was much colder. At first she was still a bit timid and unsure, but she really had fun splashing in the water once she got used to it. Swimming with her daddy was definitely her favorite part, but she also had fun giggling at Addie and Kaitlyn in their matching floats. The day was gorgeous. We couldn't have asked for a better Sunday!

grass tickles toes

Here are some pics a friend took (thanks Amanda!) of Emma Jane being coaxed by an overenthusiastic mama! She was a little tentative to take steps in the grass. I guess it tickled her toes!

blooming with the babes

We met our friends at the botanical gardens last night to listen to a steel breeze band. Although we were quite miserable in the STEAMING South Carolina heat, it was fun to watch the girls "groove" to the music!

chicks dig toys

Emma Jane had her first official playdate in her new playroom. Fun was had by all and NO crying! Of course, that's the norm with these sweet girls. Emma Jane, Addie, and Kaitlyn are hilarious to watch. Of course, it's probably more exciting for the moms as we gleefully shout every time one of our girls does something "amazing" like drinking through a straw, crawling through a tunnel, or standing up with no hands! Chewing on Emma Jane's shoes may have been the highlight for them all! The mamas enjoyed a nice lunch, too!

live, laugh, play!

Emma Jane's playroom is complete! It is so nice to have a safe "baby proof" place for her to play. She LOVES to discover new ways to play with her old toys. It's so much fun to see how her "play" changes from day to day. Her favorite game is crawling through her tunnel to find mom or dad on the other side. She also has fun taking her books and toys one by one out of the baskets and throwing them off to one side until she finds what she wants. The best part is she can make a great BIG mess and she knows mama will clean it all up for her!

fun with friends

We have been busy this week with our SC friends! We started out on Monday with our usual Target/Starbucks trip. It's funny to see people laughing at us as we shop with a train of babies in strollers and shopping carts. Wednesday we had lunch together and the girls babbled at each other from across the table. Thursday we met at the Farmer's Market to find fruits and veggies for making homemade baby food. Today we met at the park and let the girls crawl over each other as they battled for toys. We also had to check out the Memorial Day sale at a local baby boutique! What fun! It's so nice to have found such great friends who are as crazy about their babies as we are about ours!

rhythm and blooms

We took Emma Jane to the botanical gardens for a concert tonight. The weather was perfect and she enjoyed playing in the grass. Climbing up her stroller was the highlight of her evening. Our girl also loved dancing with daddy in the rain that started to drizzle just before we left to go home. Needless to say, we have one pooped out girl fast asleep in her crib as I write this!