47 Weeks

We had a great & busy week with our growing girl. It seems like the past few weeks she has been taking huge strides. New this week is sitting up on her own from lying down and pulling up to standing in her crib. We had to move her mattress down and most of the time when we go to get her out she's sitting or standing waiting on us. She's also starting to cruise a little and also try to take steps when you hold her hands but she still doesn't quite have the hang of it. She also loves music and will frequently start dancing when you play it. I picked her up one day this week from school and they said she woke up from her nap and starting dancing to the music that was playing.

Watching it snow before it quickly turned to ice

On Saturday we went to meet Baby Cora - the daughter of my college roommate. We can't wait until she gets bigger and the two of them can play together.

46 Weeks

Emma Claire had a big week this week. Monday was her first day at a daycare center - I prefer to call it "school" and I transitioned back into the office five days a week. While I would much prefer being at home with her, I am pleased with where we placed her. She goes outside every day (weather permitting), has music twice a week, PE of sorts once a week, and will eventually have chapel once a week when she moves up to the toddler room. She's becoming more and more busy & active so I think it will good for her to have the other babies to interact with. So far she has done well and has not cried at all when dropping her off and she seems happy when I pick her up. Apparently she's taken to following another little girl in her class around.

Ready for her 1st day of school!

She also went to her first Carolina Hurricanes game on Monday. Daddy is all excited because he thinks he has a sports fan on his hands. She had a lot of fun checking out all of the sights and sounds.

Watching the Canes warmup

Lots of progress in mobility this week! At the beginning of the week she was pulling up to her knees but she quickly progressed to pulling up to standing. She even gets brave enough to let go with one or both hands from time to time. Her crawling is improving as well but she has taken to crawling with her head on the ground? I've only seen her do it briefly but apparently she crawls around her classroom this way.

Her new favorite food is blueberries. She shovels them in as fast as we give them to her. She's getting better about eating her veggies. And most dinners, she eats all or a portion of what Kyle and I are having. She also started drinking out of a sippy cup this week. She still plays with it quite a bit but she's getting better.

In adding to clapping consistently, she's getting better about waving. Kyle left for work this morning and I was trying to get her to wave. As soon as he walked out of the door, she started. We've also started working with her on some baby sign language which they also use at her school.

It's been a busy but good week with our baby girl!

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