Sweet Emma, our little sunshine girl. Honestly, if she can find something to smile about, she will. And her smile just lights up her face. At just a few days under 5 months, she is a drooling, chewing, grabbing, rolling, mouthing, laughing machine. Oh, how she loves toys. And moving. You put her on her changing table and her feet are immediately up in her mouth and she's trying to roll over. You put her on her back on the floor and she immediately rolls over onto her belly and starts trying to get to anything that looks the least bit interesting. And she is SO frustrated that she can't get to it yet. Seriously, I think she'll be crawling very soon because she is so very motivated to get places. Much more so than Megan ever was!
Anywhere she is, she is trying to grab things. I've had a couple close calls with glasses of water, the computer, etc. almost being pulled over the side of our kitchen island as I sit with Emma on my lap. And Megan is getting quite upset with how Emma is always trying to grab her toys and, if I hold Emma too close to the high chair while Megan is eating lunch, her food, sippy cups and tray. (Although some of this is protective of Emma. Today Megan said, "No no Emma," as Emma lunged for her popsicle. Then she said, "Jus' pretend." And held the popsicle up close to Emma so Emma could "pretend" to eat it.)
She can sit up independently for a very short time...if you're right there to catch her when she topples over! If she's in a reclining chair or support (like her bouncy chair, the boppy cushion, or her bath tub), she almost always pulls herself to a sitting position and holds it for a long time (like all the way through dinner today).
Emma is quite the little dare devil. She loves a gentle game of "this is the way the ladies ride" and peek-a-boo...letting out peals of laughter if you can surprise her enough to make her jump. The other day she was belly laughing because Jamie was dropping her plastic chain on her over and over again. She's pretty much a 5-month-old thrill seeker. :)
Oh, and Emma has the best wide-eyed looks! She will just open her eyes as wide as she can as if to try to get everything in her brain all at once. So cute!
There is nothing she loves quite as much as her big sister. Emma watches Megan constantly and breaks out into a huge grin if Megan notices her. The love is mutual, though. Megan is constantly commenting on Emma's actions. "Emma talking." "Emma doing tummy time." "Good job rolling over, Emma!" Megan will back up to Emma and put her head backwards into Emma's lap. Emma will grab Megan's hair and for some reason they both think this is hilarious!
Emma's other favorite person is her daddy. When he gets home, she is all smiles for him and she belly laughs at the slightest sign that he might be being silly.
I really can't believe how quickly Emma is growing up. She's already in almost all 9 month clothes (and even some of those shorts are too skinny for her chubby little belly!) and she really is almost 100% out of the infant stage and into the baby stage...or whatever the different stages are called. She's coming into her own as a person!
She is a fantastic sleeper. She normally sleeps through the night from around 7:30 pm - around 5 am. And getting her to sleep is usually a dream. If I catch her at the right moment (and Megan is being quiet for long enough) she'll just drift off to sleep in my arms easily. Then I can put her down for a nap or the night. Just a month ago she was still grabbing her hair as she fell asleep. Now she barely has any hair (:-)) and she normally holds onto one of my fingers with one or both of her hands. She's still not on a daytime schedule. Believe me, I'm trying. But its proving more difficult than I would have thought just because Megan doesn't yet have the self control to stay quiet long enough for Emma to fall into a deep sleep and also panics if I leave the room for more than just a couple minutes.
And, although Emma falls asleep easily in my arms (she either nurses to sleep or turns her little face into my chest and just closes her eyes) and goes down easily, she doesn't yet fall asleep in her bed. AND she's been waking up after 30-45 minutes for every nap except when Megan is taking a nap too. Normally she's pretty easy to get back to sleep...it just takes patting her bottom and putting her pacifier back (and here's the kicker) without any distracting noise. But the couple times I've gone back to pat her butt and left Megan in the living room (even after telling Megan where I'm going), I start to hear panicked calls for me after just a minute or two. So, when Jamie is home or someone else is around to help, Emma gets great naps and is on a pretty normal nap schedule. When its just me, she gets a short nap that starts while Megan is watching Elmo's World (too late, really, but its the best I can do), a longer nap while Megan is napping, and one or two shortish naps later in the day.
Despite her sad lack of regular
nap times, Emma is a happy little girl. She loves her exersaucer and laughs at herself in the mirror. She breaks into a grin whenever anyone pays attention to her. (It makes me feel kind of guilty...like I don't pay enough attention to her.) She loves to "talk" and can hold her own well in screaming contests. :)
She loves to have her head stroked and, when she's had her fill of play, will just lay back in your arms and snuggle. (Or, if you are her Auntie Caroline, lay back in your arms and stare straight into your eyes for long periods of time.) And she has the sweetest puffy-eyed look when she wakes up. She almost always wakes up happy!
Finally, the stats at 4 months. (Yes, she's 5 months old now.)
Weight - 15 lb 5 oz Height - 26 in Head - 16.75 in
And she didn't cry at all for her first shot and just a bit for the second one (that stings when it goes in.)
Favorite nicknames right now: EmmaBemma, Emmaboo, Emma Baldy Brown, Emma Catarina
We love you sweet Emma. I can already tell that God has some amazing things in store for you. May you love and trust Him in everything you do.
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