Boys, boys, boys!

While in Raleigh, Emery had to see all of her boy friends!  Our first stop was to see Ben, Sara's son.  The last time we'd gotten together (I posted about it here) they were so young.  It's crazy how much they've changed since then!

I think Ben was 4 weeks old and Emery was 7 weeks here:

And now look at them... both around 7 months old:

Such personalities and both sitting up so big!  Ben squealed so loud when he saw Emery... what a little flirt and such a cutie!

Em made sure to let him know she wanted her personal space here:

Next was meeting Owen!  Our good friend Crystal had him 4 months before Emery, and he is seriously the happiest baby.  Tara arranged for us all to meet for lunch one day and we had such a great time catching up. 

Owen has my coloring and Emery has Crystals... too funny!  They are even matching in their plaid!

Lovebirds?!? I think so!!

Natalie even joined the big girls lunch!

So much fun!

Our next stop was to see Whitney and Lauren and their babies on the way.  Lauren is due with a girl in January and Whitney due with a boy in February!  They weren't lying when they both said they had baby fever last time I saw them.  I'm so excited for you both and just loved catching up in person!  Who knew when we graduated from college that we would all have babies around the same time-- love it!

And lastly, we also got to visit with Caleb, Kerry and Brad! It was so fun to watch Caleb and Em interact since they are only 7 weeks apart.  Thank y'all for making the trip out to visit us!!

Look at this stud, will ya?!

Emery kept trying to roll ON TOP of Caleb... she loves her cousin!

Kerry & Ky:

Brad, Kerry, Ky and I.  We are so were blessed with happy babies, I love that they are both smiling in this next pic!

Oh Caleb you are adorable:

Loved seeing all the boys in Raleigh for sure!

A week with family in Raleigh!

Kyle spent all last week in Korea for work, so Emery, Tyson and I packed up and headed to Raleigh!  Emery did amazing on the ride there (took me exactly 7 hours), taking naps when she got tired and then just playing in her car seat the rest of the ride.  No fussing at all! My boss allowed me to work from Raleigh, and I was so grateful for the extra hands to watch Emery during the day!  

 

Although I'm not complaining... I would hold her all day long if I could!

We slept at Tara and Jamie's house and then spent most days over at my parents house (luckily they live next door to each other!).  It worked out really well and I loved spending quality time with everyone!

Em had a blast hanging out with her cousins all week!  They were all so good with her!

Em also soaked up some time with Gigi!  She always gives her the BIGGEST smiles!

 And she enjoyed lots of playtime with Grandma & Grandpa!

I love this next picture!

The week absolutely flew by!  Before I knew it Kyle had arrived back into town and joined us for a walk to enjoy the fall weather!  We missed him so much, it was great to have him back home!

Dad is doing so great, even walking with Samuel on his shoulders!

How cute are the Nats?  I can't believe how big they are getting:

And can't forget little Samantha too!

 

I didn't get any pictures of Nick with Emery but it was so great to spend time with him too! Love y'all!  Thank you so much for your help with Emery while Kyle was away, and letting us stay with you all week!  We had SUCH a great time!

Emery 7 month photoshoot & video!

Last week when we were in Raleigh, we met up with Sara to get some professional pictures of Emery!  I was so excited for Sara to work her magic while my only job was to make Emery smile.  We can't thank you enough Sara!  Okay y'all, get ready for some cuteness!!!

And here is Em's video showing some of her personality and new tricks!  Enjoy!

Emery turns 7 months old!

Emery Katherine turned 7 months on October 8th!  She is seriously getting more animated by the second, and developing new "tricks" every day.  It's been such a fun month around here!  When we went to the doctor to check up on her strep throat she was 16 pounds and 3 ounces (I think she was about 6 months and 2-3 weeks old then).

PERSONALITY!

She is one laid back baby!  She loves to chill and watch everyone around her, and smiles so big if she recognizes you.  She loves to open her mouth super wide if you are playing games with her and she still is babbling non stop!  Her favorite sound is still "ma" and blowing raspberries!  She loves to act shy (smile, look away really quick, then look back at the person and smile big)... what a flirt!  She also started waving this month when we say "heyyyy", it is adorable!

EATING!

She is still eating somewhere around 3-5 ounces from me at every feeding, which is still every 4 hours throughout the day.  We also added rice cereal this month after every feeding and she loves it (not facing any more constipation)!  I mix some prune juice and pumped breast milk in it and it's gone in a couple minutes!  We do that in the morning and then following the afternoon feeding she gets 1-2 ice cube portions of veggies &/or fruits.  

We have tried so many foods this month: pears, peaches, apples, green beans, peas, and sweet potatoes.  She loves every single one of them, but her favorite is definitely green beans.. we couldn't believe it!  She opens her mouth so wide for food and even bangs on her tray sometimes!  We've started sign language with her (more, milk, all done) so we'll see if she picks up on those sometime!

We are still doing prilosec for the acid reflux, the doctor said that we'll continue the same dosage and as she gains weight it'll be come less and less strong for her.  We'll wean off that way.  She also definitely prefers nursing over a pumped bottle of milk.  If I am in the house at all she will refuse to drink from the bottle, which is fine by me as I would rather nurse than pump!

PLAYTIME!

Emery mastered sitting up by the end of this month.  We started off still putting pillows behind her as she would love to throw herself backwards but now she sits up no problem to play with toys!

Tara gave us her Leap Frog activity table for Emery.  It'll be perfect once she's pulling up on things to stand next to it, but for now we just took 2 of the legs off and she loves to sit and push all the buttons!

She still rolls to get to whatever she wants, and is pretty mobile that way.  She however still completely dislikes playing on her tummy and rolls immediately to her back if we lay her on her tummy!  We also inherited Tara's walker!  Emery started by pushing herself backwards in it but babbles and squeals the whole time!  A couple weeks into it she started getting the hang to move forward and loves it!

SLEEPING!

She is sleeping great, on her tummy!  She rolls to her left side then immediately to the tummy, so funny!  She also mastered grabbing her own paci this month, so if she loses it in the crib we no longer have to walk in half asleep and give it to her.  We let her cry it out 2 nights in a row to beat this 2 am awake period that had happened a couple nights and it worked like a charm.  She goes down at 9 pm, then wakes up at 6 am to eat then back down till 9 am.  Still taking 3 naps during the day, and is starting to beat the 45 minute intruder in them- yes!

RANDOMS:

- Emery got her first cold which turned into strep throat this month!  It was a rough couple of days around here as when she is sick she does not sleep well! 

- Absolutely loves seeing herself in mirrors.  She would smile before but now she squeals!

- Deliberately reached out for me for the first time.  Definitely loving momma this month!

- Hands in mouth still all the time, but no teeth yet!

- We lost Emery's favorite sunglasses and tried to give her some others to wear.  Since we went about a month not wearing any on our walks, she's totally not used to them and now pulls them off!  She's in the grabbing stage for sure!

- Speaking of grabbing... our cell phones and the tv remote are her favorites to grab for!  Once she grabs hold they go straight into her mouth- yuck!

And here are my iphone pics for the month:

Oh we love her so much!