Summer Time!

August has been very busy for our lil' family. The big trips we had were Bear Lake and L.A. Bear Lake was Emma's first camping trip, and she did pretty well! She slept the whole way up (only a 2 1/2 hour drive) and was able to change her schedule for the weekend. Instead of going to bed at 8, she slept til 8:30 and then stayed up until about 11:30 and slept through most of the night, waking up at 6 a.m. The lake was really high this year, which made for some pretty gross water, so I didn't get in at all. The kids had lots of fun building sand castles and playing in the water. The adults had a nice time chatting in the shade while the kids got dirty and played. 

Matt brought a game called "Hypertheticals", which was really interesting! It's a game with different scenarios, but intense ones, where you have to decided what you would do. Here's an example I liked: 

You come home from an afternoon of shopping, expecting your residence to be empty. However, upon entering your front door, you immediately sense that something is strange: The entire place smells like marijuana and roses. There is a briefcase sitting in the middle of your living room floor, filled with diamonds and Christmas cookies. You can hear the shower running, and- when you open the door to the bathroom- you realize that the man using the shower is basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. A naked Shaq peers at you from behind the shower curtain and smiles enthusiastically, but says nothing. He then returns to washing himself. When you ask O'Neal what he is doing in your home, he simply says, "I don't remember."

Do you call the police??

The game is really fun, and is a good conversation starter too! All in all, Bear Lake was a good time, next year will be better since Emma will be older- and hopefully the water won't be so high! Here are some of the few pictures I took on my phone (We thought we had left our camera at home, but really it was in my purse the entire time. Awesome.):

Emma takin' a nap on the beach

Always a gorgeous view

caught both of them off guard...

"This is my campin' face!"

It was a nice time, but camping with a baby in a tent is not my idea of fun!

We love Emma!

I have some random pictures of Matt and I with Emma,  enjoy!

Cuddling with Dad

... and with Mom

playing on the slide with Dad!

ham'n it up for the camera!

At Owen & Crissy's wedding

Our happy family

6 Months Old!

Emma is 6 months old this month! Wow how time flies! We have her 6mo check up next week, and I can't wait to see how much she's grown! She has gone from this in June:

 To this:

So big! Also, we are still swaddling her (I know the end is coming near), and a couple times in the morning we have found that she has managed to roll over onto her tummy in her swaddle: 

She must be a tummy sleeper like mommy! I have let her sleep sans swaddle for both naps today, and have found that if I put her on her tummy, and give her a blankey to snuggle, she passes right out! Hopefully this will continue to work during the night as well. I tried to let her sleep without her swaddle a couple weeks ago, and she woke up 3 times that night because she had knocked out her binky, or she rubbed her face with her hands. She just barely started sleeping through the night this month, so we have only enjoyed it for about 3 weeks now. I don't know if I'm ready to go back to waking up twice a night again, when she wakes up because she's not swaddled! Ugh. 

Moral dilemma: selfishly swaddle your child to sleep more (and possibly stunt her growth), OR stop swaddling her and wake up multiple times a night until she gets it? *sigh* 

Emma has also started eating baby food, which she totally digs. However, she only seems to like the sweet stuff... (she may not look like me, but her love for sweets is a dead giveaway that she's my child). She loves sweet potatoes, squash, peaches, pears, bananas... she ate peas and carrots one time, and the second time I offered them to her she over dramatized it, and gagged and coughed when she ate it! Guess we'll stick to the sweet stuff for now:

She is definitely an old soul, stuck in a child's body. It seems as if she knows how to do everything, but simply cannot get her small body to cooperate. She is chatting away, making complete sense to herself, but we can't seem to understand her. She looks at us like we should know what she's gabbing about. She tries to crawl every day- almost like she's practicing! She will stay on her tummy and move her legs until she gets tired and frustrated. Once she gets things down, she becomes a master at it! I can't wait until she masters crawling! I know you Moms out there will say, "You say that now, but wait until she...*insert over-used Mom phrase here*...blah blah blah. I will love when she's getting into things and crawling around eating everything in sight too! I will just be a proud momma with my mommy goggles on. She is the best thing in my world. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her this month. She is such a ham for the camera!

Making dinner with Momma!

My lil' model baby, posing for the camera

Photo shoot!

Emma's first Cubs tee! Matt was a proud Daddy

Happy 6 Months Emma! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know. Thanks for choosing us as your parents. We are so excited to share your life with you!