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8 Months!

Emmett is 8 months old today! It is hard to believe our baby is this old. In a mere 4 months he will be a 1 year old. Time is flying by. Although we have had our moments with this winter cold/flu season - I wouldn't change the time we have had with him so far for the world. He is the most precious, smiley and sweet little boy.

Since our last update..

• Emmett has another tooth! On 12/21/2011 his second tooth came through (his lower left incisor). Since then he has still (especially recently) been chewing on teethers, bibs, his hand, and anything else he can get ahold of.. however, we can't yet tell which tooth might be coming through next. It is apparent that he is still teething though!
• He has been making progress towards crawling.. but nothing much new to report. He is still trying to get his knees under him but doesn't have the concept down at this time. Mommy and Daddy set toys just out of his reach and he can get very frustrated. He does scoot around a LITTLE bit by turning and moves backwards some - but other than that it seems we still have a long way to go until Emmett is crawling!
• Emmett has had several colds since our last update. On December 20th we took him to the doctor and found he had a second ear infection along with a cold that we were sent home with cough medicine for. Last weekend we took him on Saturday January 7th to the doctor where he was given a clean bill of health only to take him back Monday January 9th to find double ear infections (Mom & Dad knew something wasn't right!) and a bad cold where he was prescribed nebulizer treatments. Today we made yet another trip to the doctor (yes, we have been to the doctor 3 times in the month of January and it is only the 16th) for a mysterious rash that appeared yesterday. It is either an allergic reaction to the ear infection medicine or a result of his cold! We are hoping that after our follow-up visit on Friday we will be done visiting the doctor until his 9 month appointment in March.
• We have made significant progress on eating solids this month. Emmett enjoys eating cereal for breakfast sometimes with fruit and vegetables for lunch. We introduced chicken baby food to him this weekend as well. He seems to really like it. He doesn't really like fruits but we have found that he will now eat pears and applesauce. He really enjoys his vegetables including sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas. Lets hope he always eats his vegetables!
• In addition to solids Emmett still loves his milk and is now going 4 hours inbetween feedings. We are trying out some new bottles that are supposed to reduce the risk of ear infection, although the doctor told us today that nothing can prevent an ear infection and a lot of it is genetic. Typically he has 4-5 feedings in a 24 hour period and now does not eat at night at all.
• When we went to the doctor on January 7th Emmett weighed in at 20 pounds 3 oz. He is a big boy! :) I am guessing he is 28 1/2 inches in length.
• Emmett still enjoys tags - in particular the tag blanket that grandma Pat made him for Christmas. He also really likes laying and playing on his activity mat, listening to Mom or Dad read books, songs, silly things that Daddy does, playing Where's Daddy or Where's Mommy (a peek a boo game), playing 1, 2, 3 with Mommy (a swinging game), and playing "I'm gonna get you!" He is also starting to like stuffed animals a little bit more. He will hug them some and then he mostly chews on them (in particular their tag if they have one.. and if they do he will find it!).

We'll try to keep the updates coming. Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Christmas Recap.. In Pictures

Our Christmas this year began the weekend before at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house..

Little Emmett was dressed just for the occassion. :) Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling the best that weekend. We found out on Monday morning that he had another ear infection. We still had a good weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's despite Emmett being under the weather.

 Not pictured.. Rustin.

On Christmas eve day we spent time as a family (just the 3 of us) going to visit Santa. We had a lot of fun going to Bass Pro Shops where we saw Santa! They gave us a free 4x6 photo and also allowed us to take our own pictures. Emmett didn't seem to mind Santa. We also purchased some yummy fudge!

We also had some surprise visitors on Christmas eve day. Gwen, Sarah and Tom stopped by on their way through town. We got to see how big girls eat solid foods and crawl. We'll see if Emmett learned anything from Gwen!

They sure have changed since their last photograph together 5 months ago!

All ready for Christmas eve mass! 

Our first Christmas together!

The loot!

Merry Christmas to Mommy and Emmett. 

Merry Christmas Grandma! 

Emmett loves his chewbeads!

Helping Daddy and Grandpa with a little project in the kitchen in his new wagon!

Someone really likes his new wagon! 

Emmett with Grandpa Frank.

We had a great Christmas at home with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Frank in attendance. It was nice not to have to travel so that we could relax a little bit. Although I think we were all exhausted when the weekend was over.

Over New Year's we traveled to Charles City where we celebrated Christmas with the Rottinghaus Clan. 58 people were in attendance this year. It was great to get to see Aunt Anne, Uncle Richard & Henry along with all of our other relatives.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!