Pretty in purple

Hi Mom.

 It was 94 here the last time I checked. So we are in our summer clothes...and then Thursday it drops 50 degrees to 54. Yikes! Hopefully we get some good thunderstorms out of it.

I can't wait until I can read the bunny book all by myself!

8 months old

Emma is 8 months old today....and she is growing all the time! 

She took her shoes off the minute we finished these pictures...she is not a fan of shoes.

Saturday at home

Yesterday Emma and I went to a dinner thing with some couples in our church. (We meet once a month at  someone's house and they cook, then we switch homes the next month.) It was our turn to took, and since we can't get everyone on base, we met at someone else's house. We made BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, peas, and a healthier version of a apple crisp. It was delicious. And thank you Aunt Grace for entertaining Emma over the phone so I could finish cooking. Emma was a little fussy due to her teeth, and I couldn't just hold her, so she had to watch...and apparently she need to exercise her voice.
So today we just stayed home and played, cleaned and went for a walk.

Aunt Grace made these baby legs

I'm going to get you!

Beautiful.

Belly surfing

Emma has not yet figured out how to crawl, which is fine with me. She does, however, want to get somewhere. She kicks her legs and flails her arms in the air, I call it belly surfing:

Sleep.

Have you read this? This is how I feel.

http://www.today.com/moms/exhausted-new-moms-hilarious-take-expert-sleep-advice-goes-viral-6C9559908

Playing

Last night Emma got to play the piano at Ken and  Fran's house after dinner. She loved it.

And here is a video from the other day of Emma playing. I am trying to get her to say, "Mama."

Good sleep

I finally woke up this morning and felt like I was fairly rested. It was a nice change. I think God knew I was in desperate need of a good night. My allergies have really been bothering me lately, and so I haven't been feeling all that great. But I actually had energy to clean today. Emma took a 2 hour nap at the babysitters, which she never does. So we were both pretty rested today.

She has also been playing peek-a-boo a lot lately...on skype and with Mom. It's pretty funny. A lady brought some 'baby pillows' that she made into the Pregnancy Help Center, but since babies can't have pillows, we took them home. Emma liked them.

Eating my foot

Picking my nose

Really?

Pictures, and more pictures.

Apparently I have taken a lot of pictures the past couple days, so here are some of my favorites.

Wearing a jacket...it was a chilly 67 degrees

Amber teething bracelet/anklet

Amber teething necklace

Not a fair-weather fan

Conked out during a 3 hour nap.

Hey, mom, I know you just folded these, but....

On our way to church.

This is what she really does with her dresses.

A little of everything

Here are a few pictures from my iPad from the last week...

Sunday after church

Just a couple of kittens...inside joke

Emma fell asleep on our bed watching Shaun the Sheep with me. :)

Been eating her fingers a lot lately.

Pretty girl

Getting so big!

I saw the little bit of tooth that is peeking out....she was much more herself yesterday, which was nice. I missed my happy girl! Here she is trying peas the other day...she hasn't been liking food too much lately.

Snutching, again

M darling little girl has been having a rough couple of days cutting this tooth. Here is a bright moment when she was getting tired. Once again, this is towards the end of her giggle session, but you get the idea. :)

Emma slept pretty good last night. Pepper, however, was another story. We got some of those thunderstorms moving across the country...Pepper is a scaredy cat when it comes to thunderstorms. Oh well, at least I got to hear a thunderstorm.

Getting a tooth

A couple days ago I thought I felt a small corner of a tooth in Emma's mouth, but I couldn't see anything, so I figured it wasn't a tooth. However, I can still feel it, and I do think it is part of a tooth making its way to the surface. She has been pretty cranky today and last night, and is a little warm this morning, so I hope this tooth comes out soon. I ordered an amber necklace and bracelet...I hope they come soon! (They are supposed to help with her pain and discomfort from teething.)

And apparently she bit me while eating yesterday, not much of a bite since she doesn't have a full tooth yet, but it hurt....and drew blood. Ouch.

On another note...it better warm up in KS during the next few weeks. I am done with the cold...it has been in the 90s here for a while now. We are ready for summer! (Or at least spring, but we don't have that in TX.)

We also got new neighbors, again. He is a student, but got retrained, so he has been in the military for 11 years. He used to be CE, HVAC. They have a little girl and will be here for 5 months. I have lost count how many neighbors we have had...at least 13 or 14. It's getting old. Steven won't even get to meet these people. Oh well. Such is life on a training base.

New Camera

My new camera finally arrived today. I really like it...although it definitely blinds you with the flash. Here are a couple of the pictures I have taken today.

 Please disregard the tomato sauce on my lip....

Tired and teething: a rare snuggly moment.

Emma and I have been doing really good since Steven left. I will answer some often asked questions:
Yes, we have heard from him, on a mostly daily basis in fact.  And he has made it to his location. We have been getting to skype the last few days, and Emma actually seems to recognize him.
Emma and I are doing good, like I said. Very tired, but good. She is such a happy girl, which makes my job much easier. If I could just get her to sleep better and/or longer at night, it would be great. We have managed to find stuff to do outside the house everyday, which makes the time pass quickly. Emma is teething, but for the most part I think she is handling it like a champ. Steven's last week here was a rough one for Emma. So last week we just tried to to do normal stuff and hang out at home. She is doing much better and almost seems to be on a schedule...at least bedtime is pretty normal. I have been doing good, but this week I seem to be awfully tired. Everyday when she takes a nap I have to decide: clean, do chores, blog, or nap....I chose nap yesterday, it was very nice. My house can't stay clean, but some days I need the nap to make it to bedtime.

My beautiful girl.

Just some pictures I have taken since Steven left.

Chasing Pepper

So....this is an older video. And just so you know, sometimes in my family, we giggle a lot at anything when we are tired, and we can't stop. We call it snutching. Emma does this, too. When she gets tired, she will giggle at anything. This video is after Steven called me outside to record it, apparently she was even more giggly before this. It's one of my favorites. Enjoy.

Daddy and Emma, Part 2

Here are some more pictures from last week. I could look at these pictures all day. :)

 Emma doesn't like to snuggle, so Daddy figured out how to get her to snuggle with him.

Daddy looks ornery

Help Mom! He's making me snuggle!

OK, Daddy, I love you ,too.

Daddy and Emma

Here are a few pictures from last week. Oh, I love these two. :)

Strawberry face

Most of the pictures I am posting this week are from last week. Steven took our camera with him so I only have my iPad to take pictures with...I did order another camera, but it isn't here yet.

Anyway...I gave Emma a frozen strawberry to gnaw on last week. Here was her reaction: