Emma's Last "Baba"

Emma had her last "baba" this week. She has officially moved on to only the sippy cup. Although it was a sad day because she is getting to be such a big girl, I will NOT miss washing the bottles!

We had a great week with Nana visiting and Emma has been enjoying her new shopping cart with all of the goodies that came with it. She is also learning some new tricks She has learned to wave when we say hi or bye but we are still perfecting it. She will only wave maybe 25% of the time. This morning it was really cute when she took the dishtowel from me and started wiping the floor with it. She must have learned this from me. She also will take the remote control and point it at the TV as if she is changing the channel. It is amazing how fast children can pick up things.

Jay took Nana back to the airport this morning and we don't have too many plans for the weekend. I guess just relaxing and trying to beat the heat. Enjoy the pics.

Emma washing the floor

Snuggles with Nana before bedtime

Her last bottle

Emma's New Shopping Cart

Emma's babysitter Jeanette is on vacation this week so Nana flew in to help with the babysitting duties. She has spoiled Emma with a brand new shopping cart, which she loves. She also loves to carry around the ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper that came with it and to pile her toys in and push them around. Below are a few pics and video from the week. Emma is becoming a master at walking - we hardly ever see her crawl anymore!

Emma with Nana and Eddie

Emma and her new shopping cart

Look out Don King!

Just walking around with her books (that she won't let you read to her)

Reading her book - she is looking so grown up to me

Emma just playing around in the following videos - and jabbering a ton lately

Emma is walking!!!

It is official - Emma is walking!! Until today she has taken a couple steps here and there. Today, which is her 14 month birthday, she finally broke free of her car walker and has walked some distance several times! We are so proud of her. Now, when will she be able to mow the lawn? Here are a couple videos - sorry the first one is sideways.

She also LOVES to play ball. She will both catch and throw the ball - an athlete in the making.

Hot Summer Night and Baby Kisses

Here is a little video of Emma walking with her beloved car walker that she just won't let go of. She absolutely LOVES it and walks everywhere she goes throughout the house with it. She also runs with it, walks backwards with it, and easily maneuvers around obstacles with it. She was a filthy mess yesterday and somehow ended up walking around without her shirt or shoes.

She did show some glimpses of walking this morning and took about 4 steps between couches multiple times. It won't be long.

Lastly, she is so adorable and if you pucker up and ask her for a kiss she will give you back a big, wet open mouth kiss. I need to get a video of her doing this cause it is so cute.

4th of July Vacation

We recently returned from our 4th of July vacation home to Michigan. Jay and I both agreed that it was one of our worst vacations because the weather was so incredibly crummy. We love to be in northern Michigan this time of year camping with my family and boating/enjoying the nice weather. This year, for the first time, we rented our own camping trailer for a whole week to accommodate our expanding family. Although it was very nice to have our own space it ended up being Emma's napping grounds the entire week because there wasn't much else to do.

The very first day was our one very nice weather day and Jay's brother Seth and his wife Jenny and Kole came up to visit along with Jay's parents. We hung out at the campsite and went for a little swim in Mullett. Emma didn't so much like the cold water as she clung on to me for dear life. Her cousin Kole was much more adventurous and liked the water. He enjoyed Emma's little starfish floatie - at least someone got some use out of it! They left early the next day because it was cold.

Our friends Aimee and Phil also came to visit with their baby Benjamin. We had a nice visit with them - and as always it was much too short. Our plan was to have Ben sleep in our trailer and Emma in my parents motorhome. Since it was so cold out we decided to see if we could get them sleeping in the same trailer so that we could play cards in the other one. Ben fell asleep first and when we went to lay Emma down (in a pack n play right next to him) he woke up. We decided to leave anyway and just see what would happen. When Aimee went back to check on them 10 minutes later Ben was up crying and Emma was sound asleep!! I couldn't believe she fell asleep with her buddy crying right next to her - what a good little girl. Aimee fed Ben and he fell right asleep and they slept all night long. It was a miracle.

The weather after that was high 50's and low 60's all week and very windy. It left for not much to do. We did go on a road trip to the upper peninsula to Sault Ste Marie to see the Soo locks. They accommodate 1000 foot boats and are quite amazing. We even left up north early to go back to Jay's parents since the weather was so cold. We enjoyed going for a long Bay City bike ride and seeing the fireworks a couple nights there. We also got to see Ryan, Becky, and the girls once more which was nice. Emma also got to spend some time with 3 of her great grandparents.

She is almost 14 months and STILL not walking. She will literally run across the living room floor with her car walker. She can also put it in reverse and walk backwards and walk around all sorts of obstacles but refuses to let go and try alone. Oh well - she will when she is ready. She did get two more teeth for a total of four. She has her front two top and bottom now. Jay and I are happy to be back home and in the swing of things. It is exhausting to fly with the little munchkin. She won't sleep on a plane and although she stays very happy she wants to crawl all over. She likes to feel the persons hair in front of us and smile and wave at everyone behind us. She was so exhausted the day after the flight that she took a 3 1/2 hr morning nap and a 1 1/2 hr afternoon nap.

Here are a bunch of pictures and a video of Emma crossing the Mackinaw Bridge. It is kind of boring but we had to have it as it was her first time to visit Michigans UP.

This pic is for Judy Rice. See - I gave her a blanket for the first time and as I predicted it wouldn't last 5 minutes

In the airport on the way to Michigan. She finally crashed after Jay walked her around the Detroit airport forever.


Where are we going mom?

This is fun!!

Crawling through her cousin Koles tube

Kole

Aunt Jenny and Emma

Emma and her cousin Kennedy

Jay and his brother Seth with Kole and Emma

Their matching Life is Good sweatshirts - our adorable little tiger and love bug

Nana and Papa with their grandbabies

Emma with Benjamin

Aimee and I

Grandpa Big John hanging out with Emma

The camping crew

Emma pushing the 62 year old walker that my grandma kept in her attic from her kids!! She then proceeded to get it out of the attic and clean it up for Emma to use. Emma loved it.

Our trip to Sault Ste Marie

Grandma and Grandpa with Emma at the Soo locks

Grandma walking with Emma

Wow - Emma was having a great time!

Daddy teaching her to enjoy a good beer at a young age

Grandpa feeding her oreos for the first time. Of course she loved them!

Aunt Joanne and Emma

Family pic

Emma's cute 4th of July headband. This got a lot of compliments in the airport.

Seth, Jenny, Kole, Jay, Keri, and Emma

Mommy with Emma at Mullett lake

Seth, Jenny and Kole

Emma playing with papa and Kole

Video of Emma entering the UP