Hide and Seek in the Corn Field

"I'm a Flower"

On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch with the Phipps Family to get into the spirit of fall.  This included dressing the kids up in their halloween costumes for some pictures........

This is Emma trying to kiss Kai.  We couldn't really get any pictures of the two of them because Kai is trying to protect himself as Emma reaches around for a smooch...


They had a mini corn maze which Emma loved.  She proudly led us around in circles as she ran through puddles....

The also had a tunnels going through a big stack of hay.  This was probably Emma's favorite thing as Hide and Seek is her game of choice..



Emma has started giving the forced smile.  Do we all learn how to do this at some point??

John and I have never experienced a corn bin...a large silo filled with dried corn that you could play in.  Emma and Kai were a bit confused that they couldn't eat the corn but got used to it and had fun playing..

Cowgirl Boots

Ok so I took these pics pretty much because of the boots....aren't they cute???

Sleep Sleep and More Sleep

I have talking to lots of friends that have babies and one of the topics that always comes up is sleep. Mostly not getting enough of it. Emma is now sleeping from 8-7 at night and taking 4 hours of daytime naps but all was not always well in baby land. Emma was and still is a very easy baby but had issues with sleeping at night. I remember the feeling of hearing her cries many times during the night and stumbling into her room angry that she had woken me up once again only to be suprised that my feelings of anger quickly melted away once I saw her panicked face and cuddled with her warm body.

One of the "bad habits" that John and I got into was brining Emma into bed with us whenever she was having a hard time going to sleep. She normally calmed quickly and would sleep soundly. She figured out quickly that she didn't want to sleep in a cold crib alone when she could be tucked between her two favorite people for the night, nice and warm (and right next to food whenever she needed it). Sometime during the last year we put a stop to this routine. We decided that Emma needed to learn to sleep in her crib by herself and endured some nights of crying to get the result we were looking for....a baby that put herself to sleep and slept through the night in her crib.

Now John and I try to get Emma to sleep with us. Don't get me wrong, we love out 8 hours straight of sleep, but we miss our little heater sleeping between us more than we missed our sleep when she was there. Emma has always been a cuddler and still is but is now more comfortable sleeping in her own crib than between mom and dad. In the last couple of weeks we first tried brining her to bed with us when she was awake, but she was too excited to go to sleep. Then we tried transfering her in a dead sleep from her crib to our bed, but she woke up and was not happy we had disturbed her......so I think that our days of sleeping with our sweet little girl are at an end..at least until the monsters start to show up under her bed...

To all of you moms that are wishing that your baby would just go to sleep and stay asleep, it will come, be patient. Enjoy every cuddle and nap that you "have" to take with your needy newborn because too quickly they don't need this anymore and you think back on those naps with fond memories....

A Day in the Life of Emma

This video is a bit long but I finally pulled out the real video camera instead of using my camera and got some footage of Emma playing. If you get bored, skip to the end....she shows the camera some of her "tricks", the last one being complements of Grandma Holly...."you go girl"

Walking

Pushing Her Toy

Emma

Life at Home

I have realized that I have only been posting our vacation and no pics of us hanging out at home like we normally do.  I thought that I would give you a run down on a day in the life of the Pell family:

We wake up around 7:15 or whenever mom or dad's alarm goes off depending on which one of us goes to work.  I am still working Tuesday's and Thursday's and those are daddy's days so I will give you a run down of a mommy day.

Emma walks around the house in her pajama's and points at random things around the house.  

Eventually she makes her way to the fridge and asks for her milk.

Then, it is breakfast time....Emma has decided that she wants to feed herself so breakfast has become an adventure.  Spoons and food flying most days.  Everything is thrown on the floor to show us that she is done and then it is into her crib for "book time" while mom takes a shower.

Then depending on the day, we either go to MOPS or a library group to meet with other moms and kids.  Emma is very social so she loves it.

Then it is nap time.  Emma takes a nap from around 10:30 - 12:30 then time for lunch.

Emma is a picky eater so we hope that we pick something that will go in her mouth instead of the floor.  A lot of days daddy joins us for lunch.

After lunch, it is play time which means that Emma pulls all of the toys out of her bin and carries them around the house.  We "read" books, play with her musical instruments, and dance to music.

Then the afternoon nap.  She naps from around 3-5 and then wakes up for dinner.

That is about it.  This is our average day for anyone that is interested.

Emma is really loving her dog which is helping mom love her again too.   Here is Emma hugging her dog......


On the weekends, we try to go have a family outing.  This is Emma at the Greensboro Children's Museum.  It was a great time and an amazing place.  We are excited to continue our outings now that Emma is old enough for them....