wacky for walker

Emma Jane is crazy about our dog, Walker. When he walks into the room, she squeals in delight. When we all go on walks together, she giggles and laughs to see him trotting beside her. Unfortunately, he seemed to care less about the new addition to our family until just recently. Walker has always been very tolerant of Emma Jane's ear pulling and nose poking, but he generally just ignores her or leaves the room when we bring her in. Suddenly things have changed a bit since Emma Jane discovered that Walker will gladly eat food off her tray. He hovers just beneath her during meals. This may be a lasting love affair afterall!

hating the hat

Today we went to the zoo again. Since I knew it was going to be a bright, sunny day, I decided to have Emma Jane "practice" wearing a hat before we left. For the past few months she gets very annoyed if you put anything on her head. She used to wear hats and headbands with a smile, but as soon as she learned how to take them off, they were history. This morning I put her hat on MY head and walked around happily showing her how cool it was to wear it (of course, it was barely staying on my much bigger head). She laughed and giggled at her silly mama (probably thinking I'm a big nerd) and I thought my trick just might work. After a few minutes of prancing around in her hat, I slowly placed it on her head. She smiled sweetly and swiped it off in a matter of seconds. After a few tries, I finally discovered that if I quickly distract her with something else soon after placing the hat on her head, she will forget it's there momentarily. Before we left the house, I shot some quick pictures of her just in case she suddenly realized there was a foreign object on her head. We made it all the way to the zoo without any hat swiping and I was thrilled! After all, this fair-skinned girl is going to have to get used to wearing hats. As I proudly strolled my Emma Jane through the zoo, several people stopped to say, "What a cute baby!" and "Adorable hat!" and I was tickled with myself for finally teaching my baby girl to keep her hat on. Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me say, "Ma'am, did you just drop this?" and sure enough Emma Jane's darling hat was lying on the filthy sidewalk a few yards behind us. I replied, "No, but SHE did, and she's very pleased with herself" as I looked down at my smiling child. We tried the hat again a few more times, but it wound up on the sidewalk each time and I finally had to admit that I was defeated. Enjoy the pics because you won't see many more of this little girl in a hat!

new friends

Emma Jane has made new friends (and so has her mama!). Her baby buds are slightly younger so she will be able to teach them all kinds of naughty things! There's nothing like watching three baby girls trying to figure life out. Unfortunately, Emma Jane seems to be so intrigued with life in general that she's not paying them much attention just yet. How rude!

out of control safety patrol

Emma Jane is obviously not very concerned for her own safety. As a ridiculous worry-wart mom, I have tried baby-proofing many things in her room where we spend the most time. I put adhesive soft corners on her dresser top, large foam pads on the edges of the dresser, and baby socks over the crystal knobs of the dresser. In a matter of days, all of those things were carefully taken off by our curious little munchkin. The "baby-proofing" objects were more like "baby magnets" and she just couldn't control herself. What a waste of money! At least I got a little entertainment out of it.

mmmm...grass tastes yummy!

The days of smiley baby photo shoots are over. Today we went to the botanical gardens for an afternoon stroll. I like to take Emma Jane there when she wakes up from her nap if the weather is nice. We find a cool shady place to sit and I give her a snack. She loves to listen to the water splashing in the fountains. When I put her down on a blanket in the grass, she is off and crawling before I can turn the camera on! Today she was obsessed with picking the grass and eating it! To my horror, she would grab handfuls and stuff them in her mouth. Needless to say, our photo shoot didn't last long, but I did get a few candids!

gotta have the blankie

Emma Jane takes her soft pink blankie everywhere. She sleeps with it at night and covers her face with it when she's tired. If she sees it lying on the floor, she crawls over to it and rubs her face all over it. She even puts it in her mouth to hold it when she's crawling somewhere. Don't worry, she doesn't know this, but we have two just in case! It would be a disaster to lose the blankie! She also has a pillow that matches her blankie and she loves it, too! One of her favorite games is to take the pillow off the rocking chair and bite it!

my daddy loves me

Emma Jane LOVES playing with her daddy! She loves to hang upside down and she giggles hysterically when he throws her in the air. All of this, of course, scares me to death, but I'm glad our little one isn't a scaredy cat. She also enjoys taking things off his head (like sunglasses and hats). This is just one of her many games to get dad's attention!

baby loves books

Emma Jane is really starting to enjoy books now. She can turn pages on cue and SOMETIMES sits through the whole book. She even "kisses" a gray dog on one page of her favorite book. Paul and I like to think that she does this because she associates the dog with our dog, Walker. I thought she was just eating the book the first time she did it, but now she does it every time we come to that page. That's the next thing we will try to catch on video....

no sweet potatoes for sweet pea

Today our sweet pea is 9 months old. It's hard to believe that Emma Jane has been in this world for 9 months, and at the same time, it's hard to believe that she has ONLY been in this world for 9 months. Every day brings something new and devine. She is a busy bee who knows what she wants. I tried to be domestic (gasp!) and made homemade baby food yesterday. Emma Jane is a pretty good eater, and she LOVES sweet potatoes. So, being the conscientious mother that I am, I decided to do away with Gerber foods for a healthier baby! I lovingly skinned, chopped, boiled, and blended sweet potatoes and squash. (No big deal for MOST of you, but for me, quite a feat!) As I proudly spooned the warm concoction into her mouth, I just knew she would smile in appreciation. I expected the usual beating of tiny hands on the tray in hopes for more....but nope...I've apparently poisoned my child! Since I can't get the hilarious video to upload, here are a few pics to show her truly pitiful reaction to mama's cooking.