Emily's Baptism

Well, it only took us 6 months, but we finally go Emily baptized.  We were so lucky to have so much of her family here to share it with her.  She had grandparents, one of her great aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles, cousins, and brothers there.  We took up a whole pew in the church.  We feel blessed to have found such a great church home here in Tulsa.  

Emily and I before the service.  Doesn't she look adorable in her gown?  The gown also came with a little bonnet, but Andrew vetoed it.  I think it would make an adorable pilgrim hat... maybe she'll just have to wear it for Thanksgiving.

Rev. Paul, Andrew, Emily, and I.

During the ceremony.  Bobby (her Godfather) is standing in the back.  Her Godmother Kathleen wasn't able to make it at the last minute because Layla got sick and couldn't fly.  We missed having them here.

Paul took Emily around the church to meet the congregation after the baptism.

The whole family after church.

Another photo of Emily in her gown.

Emily with her cousin Ashlynn.

Emily and Aunt Baby.

Emily and Uncle Freddy.

Emily and Uncle Bobby.

Emily and Tanta April.  Aunt April was so helpful with getting everything together for the baptism.  She brought so many goodies with her... it made everything so much easier for us.  Thanks again for everyone who came to be with us.

Music Together

This fall, we enrolled Emily in a music class on Monday nights for ages newborn through kindergarten called Music Together.  At the beginning of the session, they give everyone a copy of the new set of music, and in each class we sing several of the songs, play instruments, and dance to the music.  The idea behind the class is that all children are musical and that they can achieve basic musical competence provided their music environment is sufficiently rich (I copied that part from Wikipedia).  At first I wasn't sure what to think of it, but I thought it would be fun.  Now that we are finishing our first session, I think it is totally worth it.  We start each class with the same song, and you can see her face light up when we start singing it.  

Emily playing with her drum... ok, so she's not really playing it at the moment.  but I bet she was chewing on it just before this picture was taken.

Emily with a tambourine and a maraca.  At this point, most of her instrument playing involves chewing on things, but I'm sure she'll get it soon enough.

Grandma Jan usually joins us for class.  We have a lot of fun singing with her... hopefully Emily gets her voice.

Pull Ups...

Today marked another first for Emily... one I wasn't able to share in because I was at work at the time.  I guess I'll let Andrew have a few of those first moments too... but I really wished I was there.  She learned how to pull herself up today.  Andrew said she was standing by the laundry basket and she pulled herself up on it.  Very exciting... but at the same time, I realized that we had a whole new level of childproofing that we needed to take care of.  And we've hardly finished the first round.  

Emily sitting at the table getting ready to make her move.

Emily showing off her new skills for the camera.

First Food

Now that Emily has passed the 6 month mark, we decided it was time to start trying out solid foods.  After doing some research on what the best way to start solids was, I found that this is yet another topic that no one agrees on.  We decided to go with one that made sense to both of us, which basically entailed starting with the lower allergenic foods and then moving on from there.  I had also always wanted to make my own food so we knew exactly what she was getting, so since acorn squash was in season, we decided to start there.  

We chronicled her reactions below... 

At first, she was excited to be in her big girl chair and was trying to figure out what daddy was doing.  

Her first bite... she was very interested in trying to help.  No surprise there.

She was more interested in mushing the food in her hands than she was in actually eating any, so we decided to go with that for a little while.

At this point, we actually got some in her mouth, and she's not quite sure what to think about it.  

Oh wait, there it is... I think we're about done for today.  

Here she is another night... back to being the big helper.  

We tried giving her the squash for a few days, but I don't think squash is her thing... maybe sweet potatoes will go over better.  We'll have to wait and see, but it doesn't look promising.

Hanging with Emily

Emily is starting to get more and more mobile by the day.  Now she can sit up on her own with minimal crashes and she can move to her hands and knees from sitting, but she hasn't figured out how to move on all fours yet.  For now, she is still using the army crawl to get from Point A to Point B... but don't think that's slowing her down.  It is amazing how quickly she can move.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she is moving even faster.

Emily in the ready position.

Then she drops to her belly and pulls herself along.  It's not all in the arms... she also gets her feet into the action and uses her toes to grip the floor and push herself along.

Here she is starting in the sitting position, heading into her crawling stance.  It's amazing how flexible she is.

It's always hard to get pictures of her from any angle besides straight on.  As soon as she sees the camera she heads straight for it.


Apparently this is how she spends her time when I am away.  I don't know where she learned to pass out with a bottle in her hand... surely not from her mother.

Emily's First Halloween

Emily celebrated her first Halloween this year.  Ok... so I guess it would be more correct to say that we celebrated her first Halloween.  We visited the pumpkin patch, got her a super cute Halloween outfit, and dressed her up for trick or treating.  I failed to do a good job at playing photographer, so we only have one picture of her in her costume... 

Emily playing with the Emily-sized pumpkins.  

Emily and Andrew heading out of the car for trick-or-treating at church.  Isn't she the cutest bear you've ever seen?

Emily hanging out at home in her "I love mummy" onesie and baby legs (leg warmers).