“I’m a Big Girl in my Playpen!”

Yep, if you look closely, you can see my two teeth!!! Check out my earrings, too!

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We love taking pictures of our baby!! Here is a shot taken in the mirror before her bath!

7 months

Dear Baby Emma,

You are 7 months old today. You are far exceeding all of the expectations that I ever had for you. You are so strong, so brave, and so so so smart!!! I always underestimate you and you always prove me wrong. You are so awesome. I love you so much today and I know that I will only love you more and more in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. How that is possible… I can’t fathom.

You are now sitting up to play all by yourself (although your daddy and I still sit behind you sometimes in case you fall.) AND you are so close to crawling. You’ve learned to squirm around on your belly like a worm to get what you want. We have been putting your most attractive toys far from your reach to encourage you to make that discovery of crawling. Once you figure that one out, I’m sure you will be unstoppable.

The last few months have been incredible. We have gone on a few trips with you and you seemed to enjoy yourself with the new people that you met. We took swimming lessons this summer and you loved the water. I want to get a pool in our own backyard just to see how happy get when you are in the water.

You have also become an expert in fine cuisine. Well, maybe just the cuisine that Gerber makes. You have tried all of the first fruits and vegetables now. This is how you rated them in order of most to least favorite. For veggies: 1. PEAS 2. SWEET POTATOES 3. SQUASH 4. GREEN BEANS 5. CARROTS… This was surprising to me because the only one of those vegetables that I like are carrots, which you liked the least. This just goes to show how you truly are your own person and have your own likes and dislikes. It will be fun to continue to see more of those likes. For fruits: those were pretty easy. YOU LOVED THEM ALL! Bananas, applesauce, pears, peaches, and prunes. Sorry about those prunes though. They hurt your tummy a little so we didn’t give you those for 3 days in a row like we did with everything else.

You are such a happy baby. I don’t think I’ve ever known another baby that smiles as much as you do. There is nothing that your smile can’t get from me. Hopefully you will not learn to use that against me anytime soon… As the days and weeks go on, you are more and more fun to me. I am starting to teach you sign language to help you talk to me as soon as you understand how. We are reading more books, too. I thought you would never sit still to read, but you are now increasingly patient as we read. It has become hard to only read one book because you seem to want more. It makes me happy to see that you love reading. We are also building towers with your blocks. Well, Mommy builds the towers and then you knock them down. That’s good enough. Pretty soon you will be building them yourself. You will have so much fun!

Finally, you have two of the cutest teeth I’ve ever seen coming in. Your two front bottom teeth are coming in and they are causing you a bit of trouble. How dare those teeth do that to my little baby?? You woke up crying at 2 this morning and then at 6, so I’m guessing they are really bothering you. We decided not to go to church this morning in case you were still feeling those aches. I hope that those teeth leave you alone soon. We will all be much happier that way.

Emma, your daddy and I love you very much. We are so proud of you!!! You are the best baby in the whole wide world. We are so lucky to be your parents. You make it a joy to be parents. You are wonderful.  I love you.
Love,

Mommy

Happy Birthday, Aunt Marlene!

Have a good one! Hope to see you soon!

Help!

Tonight’s dinner was not the greatest.  Ian came home and I hadn’t decided what to make.  At the last minute I took a couple of frozen chicken breasts and decided to go with that.  I popped them in the microwave to thaw, and then cut them up into pieces to cook in a pan.  I threw the pieces in a ziplock bag and threw a mixture of sauces in to flavor them first.

I paired my chicken with some steamed broccoli and one of those packaged pasta meals with the seasoning already included.  Our meal was boring to say the least.  And, although I made it myself, I was not sure if I even wanted to try the chicken…  Was it cooked all the way through?  Would it be tender and juicy like the chicken at a restaurant?  (Probably not, it would be tough, dry, and not very tasty.)  I had no choice but to eat it since I forgot to eat lunch today…  I’m afraid such bad experiences will keep me from trying again.
I know that I am not a good cook by any means.  I admit it.  Please help me.  If anyone has any great EASY recipes for me, I’d love for you to share.  Don’t be shy!!!!  Help me make the daily chore of dinner a bit easier!