10 Months!

Since our 9 month update..

• We have new car seats! Emmett is now in his rear facing convertible seat. It is great not to lug around his heavy infant carrier. He enjoys being able to see so much more now as well.
• Emmett took his first plane ride on February 17th. We went to visit the family in Virginia. It was a great weekend and he was a perfect little angel for his Mommy. Comments from the stewardessess - "Look at those eyes!" "Oh what long eyelashes!" and the comment that Rustin liked most - "He's just too pretty to be a boy!"
• At Emmett's 9 month check up he weighed in at 21 pounds 3 oz (54th percentile) and was 29.3 inches long (76th percentile).
• We are getting consistent sleep almost every night. Emmett goes down around 8pm now and gets up around 7am. What a blessing!
• We were ear infection free for the entire month of February (yay!). However, Rustin took him in to the doctor's office on March 8th to find out he had yet another ear infection. After two "bad" nights we were almost glad that there was a medical reason for why we weren't able to get any rest! We are hoping that will be the last of his ear infections.
• He is eating more and more solid foods. We are now trying to move towards more finger foods, less baby food - just when he was starting to really like it! We are not going to completely stop with baby food yet because it does fill him up, but are introducing any finger foods at this point per our doctor's recommendation - giving him what we are eating and hoping he eats it! He is pretty good about trying everything. He does not spit anything out but does make a face when something is new. Overall he is a great eater.
• Still working on crawling! Although Emmett seems to be increasingly more mobile recently (twisting and turning all around) he has yet to make that leap. We recently discovered that Rustin too was a later crawler. He happened to crawl in his 10th month.. so it will be interesting to see what this month holds for sweet little Emmett!
• Bath time has become a real treat for Emmett. He loves playing with his light up duckies that his great Aunt Michelle gave him at his baby shower. He chews on them, hits them together, and tries to smack them but ends up splashing water all over instead. It is great fun!
• He does say "mama" from time to time, but only with his tongue sticking out. Silly!
• Emmett smiles all the time. He is almost always happy! We really enjoy him.
• Separation anxiety continues into his 10th month. When there are a lot of new people around he likes to be where he can see his Mommy and that is usually all it takes to make him feel secure.

Taking care of Emmett is a true joy. We love hearing him babble, seeing his excitement of trying/learning new things and just watching him grow. This is a really special stage in his life. I can't believe in two short months he will be one year old! The time has flown by and he is becoming more and more independent each day. We are so glad to have this little boy in our lives!

Get it Rockin'

This is not the typical behavior we have come to expect when taking our monthly picture.

I guess times are a changing! :)

Picture Update

Some of Emmett's favorite activities/toys/people..

Tummy Time!

Aunt Anne!

The Jumperoo! although we have not been using this much (if at all) anymore..

Swinging at the park!

The Baby Bjorn, his monkey sock hat.. AND Uncle Richard!

Emmett's Razberry.. and his Daddy!

Rings!

 Razberry!

Shoulder rides.. and Mommy!

Dinner Time!

Turning head to the side at dinner time!

Cereal!

Smiling!!!! :)

9 Months!

Emmett turned 9 months old on February 16th! Please forgive my tardiness. It has been difficult to find the time (and remember) to take the picture and add the post. We have been busy!

Since our 8 month update...

• Emmett spent his first night away from his Mama at the beginning of February. I think Emmett and Dad had a lot of fun together.. but were awfully glad to see me the next day!
• Since then, Emmett has developed a touch of separation anxiety. He has displayed a tendancy toward wanting Mommy on a number of occassions. Sometimes he just needs to see me and is then ok.. Other times he wants to be held. It has made it more difficult to leave him as well as for me to accomplish tasks around the house. But I must say - it is awfully sweet of him. :)
• He recently caught hand foot and mouth disease. He developed a rash around his mouth with a few spots on his hands and feet. It didn't seem to bother him but he did have to stay home from daycare. He was able to spend some time at home with Grandma Nelson. Because of his separation anxiety he was a little unsure about this after waking from a nap the first day. However, he and Grandma got along just fine and enjoyed spending a few days together.
• Emmett has been doing an excellent job of sleeping through the night lately. He is also doing better with naps at daycare. I think it is all due to keeping him on a regular schedule. We try to get him up and put him down to bed at apx the same time every day. His feedings are also scheduled. He takes a bottle/nurses 4 times a day and has 3 solid meals as well.
• We have recently upgraded to a new stroller. We have yet to give it a test drive but I am anxious to start using our new phil & teds classic. I will try to keep you updated on our review.
• Emmett's new favorite toy is his pal, Scout. He loves the music and silly things Scout says. He always brings a smile to our little boys' face!
• No further developments at this time.. we are still waiting on crawling and/walking. I guess we will try to enjoy the time we have before we are chasing after him. :)
 

Emmett's Eating Skills

He's come a long way since his first experience with solids..

Here is Emmett's first experience with bananas back in November..

Here he is a few weeks ago eating squash..



E's Favorite Thing

TAGS...

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!