Daddy's 31st

While I was on my blogging hiatus we celebrated Craig's 31st birthday! Emmeline loved the candles and singing.

11 Months

Emmeline is now 11 months and is finally on the move!
It feels like in just the last month Emmeline has changed so much. She now has 9 teeth, including 2 molars and eats just about anything you put in front of her. Although she really loves turkey burgers and anything is marinara sauce. She's walking all over the place, mostly while I hold her hand but today she ventured out on her own a bunch. She never did leanr to crawl. Her sleep schedule is pretty routine, with a bedtime at 7:00 and a wake time at 5:00 for milk and then right back to sleep until around 7:00. We feel pretty lucky with that routine so we're not trying to phase out the 5:00am feeding. Plus, she could use the extra calories. Emmeline is still such a sweet, happy girl who loves to dance, clap, and play peek a boo. I can't believe we're going to be celebrating her first birthday in just one month!

Penrose Park

Emmeline and I met up with Stacey and Ollie back in Sept. at Penrose park. Here are just a few of the pictures

It was nice little park - we're going to miss being outside this winter.

Mom's Group

About once a week and sometimes once a month (when our stay at home mom schedule gets too packed) our mom's group gets together.

Most of us are in this picture - although I think we might be missing a couple mom's and babies.

I just love talking nap schedules and strange diaper surprises while sipping on champagne.

Lake Placid Vacation

Emmline and I took a little trip to Camp Redwing at Lake Placid. My dad and Dori picked us up in VT.

This was Emmeline's first ferry ride with Grandpa and Dori. She loved it!
Camp Redwing is amazing! Its a huge, beautiful house right on Lake Placid. I took soooo many pictures of Emmeline right on the dock of the lake. The view was so amazing.
Emmeline also had her first boat ride. Don't worry, this is not the life vest she wore. I just couldn't resist.
Dori's parents were sooo sweet and bought this little pool for Emmeline to use right on the dock. She loved love having her own little swimming hole right near all the action.
Our first real vacation without dad went pretty good - although we missed him so much! Thanks Dad and Dori for such a great trip!!!!

Family Reunion

My husband's family (on his mother's side) all met up in DC a couple weeks ago for a super fun weekend. Here is the first shot of all the cousins on Friday. They loved all being together and just riding up and down my street making me so nervous!

Early Saturday morning; wearing our very cool matching shirts (thanks Uncle Brent for such a great design) we headed down to The National Mall for some site seeing and museam visits. The matching shirts were seriously genius - it made it so easy to locate our group amoung the DC crowds.

We basically took over 1 entire Metro Car and spent the time doing pull ups on the hand bars and napping (emmeline).

We couldn't resist a cousin photo on the mall lawn. Getting them all to sit happily was a serious challange.

And well - here is our little peanut on the Mall lawn. Amist all the business she turned 10 months. I'm not sure how it all happened - time just flies.

It was so great spending time with Craig's family. The only question now is... where will we go for the next reunion???

Up and Running again

Wow - the second half of July and the first half of August were sooo super busy. So much has happened so bare with me as I post events that have occurred a couple weeks ago.

A weekend with Oliver

We were happy to have Oliver stay with us this weekend and as hard as I tried to take a ton of pictures - I only managed to get a few. Here are some good ones.

We tried to get out of the house as much as possible so we headed to the park on Saturday. It was blistering hot so we just hung out in the shade while continually taking grass out of the kids hands.

Meal times were crazy - Ollie would finish his dinner in about 10 minutes and then would attempt to steal Emme's food off her tray. Emmeline just took her time while fending him off.

Craig couldn't resist exposing Ollie to a little NY style.
I kept telling Emmeline that she would get bit if she kept sticking her finger in his mouth. Low and behold two seconds after I took this picture the crying started.
I would put Emmeline in her walker and Ollie would push her all around. They would laugh and smile the whole time - it was so much fun to watch.

Oliver was such a little angel all weekend. He was a complete joy to have around.

Emmeline post nap

I snapped this picture right after her morning nap. She was still sleepy and dreamy eyed with sweaty curls.

4th of July

Emmeline's first 4th of July was a great one!
We got all dressed up for the 4th and then headed to the farmer's market for some groceries - we were the only goof ball family with coordinating 4th of July outfits on.

Emmeline surrounded by her sweet boy cousins. They were so cute with her - giving her tons of kisses and hugs. I just hope she'll be able to keep up with them when she gets a little older. They are busy boys!! Plus - we have one more littte guy on the way thanks to Aunt Katie!!!

We had the pool completely to ourselves - it was great! Don't worry, there was an adult in the Pool with Penn, he wasn't all alone.
We spent wonderful 4th of July with Craig's family. We're so lucky to have cousins that live in the area. Wow - I look pregnant in this picture - I really need to get my butt in gear and get walking!

Thank you Grammy and Papa!!!

Thank you Grammy and Papa for all your help this past week. I was able to get so much work done and we also had such a nice time visiting with you. I know Emmeline loved every minute she had with her Grammy and Papa. Thank you also for all the hard work you guys did on and around the house. We really appreciate all your help. We all miss you so much already and can't wait to see you again in August. Love you guys!!

Craig's parents came to visit this past week to celebrate 4th of July and to help me with Emmeline. My last day of work will be July 31st so I need all the time I can get finishing up with work to pass on to another monitor.

9 months!

Emmeline is now 9 months and a couple weeks. Wow - time is seriously flying now! She is now clapping, waving, and dancing (bounces) to music. The dancing is so cute - I hope she continues to love music. At her well-visit this week she weighed 16 lbs 14 ozs. and 28 inches long. Staying at 25% for weight and 75% for height. Emmeline's personality is really starting to show. She definitely knows what she wants and what she doesn't and will let you know it. Most of she is so sweet and still smiles all the time.

Emmeline and Oliver take a bath

Stacey and I will be sure to pull this out after they have announced their engagement years from now. Last weekend we decided they could just take their nightly bath together - we snapped this one while the tub was filling up - we couldn't resist.

8 Months (a couple weeks ago)

Little miss Emmeline turned 8 months a couple weeks ago and good old lazy me is just getting around to posting the pictures. I'm sad that we don't have a well-visit with the doctor this month- I'm dying to know what she weighs. We'll know at 9 months but I wish I knew now. She seems taller to me and still super small. She's still wearing some 3-6 month clothing at this point. Her personality is really coming through and it's so much fun. Although - she is kind of day dreaming in the picture above.

Posting Hiatus

Sorry for the little posting hiatus. Work got super busy and then all of a sudden all three of us are fighting a cold. It's been a rough couple of days and nights but she seems to be asleep for the night now so I'll try and get some pictures up while it lasts.

Some more pic's from my dad's house

My dad has these huge adirondack chairs overlooking Walnut Creek. Emmeline thought it was so much fun to be sitting in them on her own.   

Chillin with dad and Dori

Emmeline and I have been hanging out with my dad and Dori the last couple of days. It has been so great to just relax and enjoy the cool, Erie summer days. We've been spending as much time outside as possible. 
Here is just a side glance of Dori while she was playing with Emme. 
Thanks dad for such a nice little vacation. We have loved relaxing and just hanging out with you! 

Blogging from Erie

Emmeline and I will be blogging from PA for a little while. We came to visit for a week or so and to spend some quality time with the family. The weather has been so great and we can't wait to get some beach pictures.
We posed Emmeline on the 2nd hole at Lakeshore - right by Craig's parent's house. I hope to get one each year to see how she grows. I know Craig is just dying to buy her her first golf club! We miss you hunny and wish you could have stayed in PA with us!!!!

All of a sudden Emmeline has lost her newborn baby face. Her features are moving towards a toddler look. Wow - it goes fast! 

Emmeline and Aubrey

Craig's good friend Ryan and his wife Megan came to visit this past weekend. They have a beautiful little girl, Aubrey. She is about 3 months younger than Emmeline. We sat them down on our bed while we got their bath ready - here is what happened. 

Emmeline gives Aubrey a little love pat on the shoulder just to let her know everything is ok. 
Emmeline's little love pat quickly becomes a pinch and poor, little, innocent Aubrey is in tears. 

I guess Emmeline feels bad - or just a little old Italian guilt kicks in and she tried to hand off her paci. Because a paci makes anything better. 

Watermelon Love

This past weekend we found out that Emmeline absolutely LOVES watermelon.  I gave her a quick bite of mine and she went crazy for it so I gave her a piece to hold on her own and she quickly gobbled that up and then cried when it was all gone.
I was amazed - she isn't the most interested eater so this was a surprise and a complete delight. It was soo cute to watch her until we took a piece away and then it was like Ollie with the artichoke leaves. She was seriously mad. I took a quick video and will post soon.