45 Weeks

This week was Emma Claire's first Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family and Christmas Day with Kyle's side of the family. Emma Claire was spoiled by all with new toys, books, movies, bath toys, clothes, a CD player, and keepsakes. She didn't get much into the unwrapping of presents but she did like eating the ribbon.

We also had a big snow the day after Christmas - somewhere around 8 inches. We took her out in it for a few minutes and although she couldn't touch it she seemed to like it. She liked watching Savannah run around in it.

A few new things from this week... She has started raising her legs perpendicular and spreading them when you pick them to wrap them around your waist. It's really cute! She is also starting to pull up on the side of the tub, my legs, and on toys. She has gotten up on her knees a few times to play with toys or reach something.

One of her favorite new toys!

First Christmas as a Family

Christmas Morning in her chair Santa brought her

Emma Claire met her Great Grandpa Bowman for the first time

44 Weeks

Our big news for this week is that Emma Claire started crawling! We went to Savannah for the weekend and when we returned on Sunday night she was down in the floor and took off. Mind you, she doesn't get up on her hands and knees yet but it's a trench crawl and she gets where she wants to go.

As for our trip to Savannah, it was our first "vacation" as a family. We've been to visit friends and family but this was our first "vacation". She was a complete angel the entire weekend despite her schedule been disrupted and few naps. Everywhere we went people commented on how good she was. We toured the Green Meldrim House, walked all through Savannah, visited Bonaventure Cemetary, & Wormsloe Plantation. We also had lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse. Emma Claire loved the home cooking! She had green beans, lima beans, black eye peas, fried chicken, macaroni, biscuit, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and even a bite of banana pudding! She also loved my baked ziti I had for dinner one night. It was definitely a different trip having her along but we had a lot of fun and look forward to taking her on more trips as we hope she inherits our love of traveling.

Outside the Green Meldrim House

Lunch at Mrs. Wilkes

 

Ride a horsey on River Street

Wormsloe Plantation

43 Weeks

This week was another rough few days for Emma Claire. We thought for sure she was teething but nothing has popped through. She didn't feel well for a good part of the week so there isn't much to report other then she met Santa and told him what a good girl she'd been all year long! She didn't fuss but she kept looking up at him like "who are you?" and gave his beard a few tugs.

This is one of the days she didn't feel good. We sat her down on the couch beside Savannah and she laid her head down on her.

Emma Claire can stand up now while holding onto something. You  have to watch her closely still or she will eventually topple over.

I interrupt this blog...

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42 Weeks

We had a fun and busy week. On Saturday we got an early and unexpected snow but what a nice surprise. It was just enough to leave a light coating. It wasn't Emma Claire's first snow as it snowed the day we brought her home from the hospital but it was the first that we have pictures of. Emma Claire also got to meet Stevie, a childhood friend of Kyle's from Ohio. He was in town so we had dinner and made a trip to the mall with him. Stevie is great with kids and Emma Claire had a lot of fun hanging out with him. On Sunday, we had my Bible Study Christmas Party. Emma Claire was getting tired so I took her upstairs to Kyle where the men were watching football so I could grab some dessert before we took her home for a nap. I never heard a peep out of her and the picture below is her passed out on Daddy's lap. We also broke out her baby doll this week that she got as a baby gift from our friends Jenn, Michael, and Lilley (Baby Tripp has since made his arrival). She is enjoying playing with her baby doll and it's so cute to see her playing with such a feminine toy.

Our most exciting development this week is we learned that when we say "yay" Emma Claire will smile and clap her hands. Here is a video of her performing her new trick. It's just the cutest thing and how exciting to know she understands us.

Here are a few pictures from our week...



 

Too much partying!

Emma Claire and Stevie

 

41 Weeks

The Friday after Thankgiving we left early for a trip to Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with friends. Emma Claire did great on the car ride both ways. She had a lot of fun playing with Sarah and Abbie and we enjoyed our visit with Dave and Stacie and the girls. Not much new this week other then we are starting to give her more bites of our food and Kyle gave her some Cranberry Juice which she couldn't get enough of. We've figured out that she will eat much better if we give her table food with more flavor/seasonings rather then bland food. For the most part we eat pretty healthy so their is normally a few things off our plates that we let her try depending on what we are eating. She's not big on anything green other than cucumbers. She loves her yogurt and gets really excited when she sees you get it out of the refrigerator.

Giving Daddy kisses

40 Weeks

This week Emma Claire had her first Thanksgiving. She and I drove to Charlotte on Tuesday, had dinner Wednesday night with my family, and drove back Thursday for Thanksgiving with Kyle's family. She got to try lots of new foods at Thanksgiving - turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and even a taste of pumpkin pie! She also helped cheer the Wolfpack to victory over Carolina and made the cutest cheerleader ever! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are so thankful for our healthy, adorable baby girl!

Ready to dig in!

Our 1st Thanksgiving with Emma Claire



Cutest cheerleader ever!





Bathtime fun